Pitch Black Darkness
by shadrougeforever
Summary: When the Chaotix finds Shadow missing on the day after his birthday, they discover a mysterious diary that contains a dark and twisted future with Shadow as king. Now it's a race to save Mobius and their dear friend who causes the madness. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**THE NEW TAINTED SOULS**

It was a dark and calm night with a full moon shining down upon the cursed Tech City. The Chaotix were on another mission. This time an even more dangerous one.

Shadow was riding on a red and black motorcycle that he had gotten when he found it parked near the sidewalk beside a nightclub. He was chasing a weird and deformed looking brown creature with plenty of speed. 'I never thought this day would come. The day when all Hell just breaks loose all over Mobius and there's no one to stop it except us.' He had headphones over his ear so he could keep in contact with the rest of the Chaotix. "Vector, this is Shadow. The Almas is making its way towards the outskirts of the city."

"Good", Vector had replied. "Make sure its heading that way and away from the city."

He reached into his back pocket and took out his small pocket knife that transformed into a machete. "Roger that." He made the motorcycle go faster as he hit the gas more while he held the blade of the machete outward and towards the creature. He studied the creature while he was catching up to him.

The creature was thin and was running on all fours with its claws as sharp as the point of a butcher knife. Drool escaped its mouth because of its wild thirst for the one thing it was seeking. Its eyes were completely red and its fangs were huge.

Shadow kept asking himself the same question over and over again. 'Just what the hell are these things?'

The creature looked back at him and suddenly purple looking liquid came from its mouth and was shot towards Shadow.

He quickly dodged it by steering the motorcycle away from its range of fire. 'What the fuck is that?'

The creature had repeatedly tried to hit Shadow with the purple like liquid, but Shadow had kept dodging it.

'Okay this is getting pointless.' He made the motorcycle go faster again and quickly came up to the creature and sliced its head clear off, sending its blood flying all over the highway. "Gotcha!" He stopped the motorcycle and got off it. Then he walked over to the creature's headless corpse and stared at it, and saw a pool of blood dripping from its neck. He talked into the headphones again. "Vector, this is Shadow. The Almas has been silenced."

"Good work, Shad. Now report back to headquarters. We have a lot of shit to discuss."

"Yes, sir." He then spotted the head of the creature and decided to examine it a bit. He kneeled down at the head and stared at the purple liquid dripping from its mouth. As the liquid seeped onto the ground, he saw that it was making a hole into the pavement. He gasped, "Is that some sort of...acid?"

Later, Shadow had arrived back to the Chaotix reporting what had just happened between him and the creature he was chasing. "I'm telling you this shit doesn't make any sense. First there are monster attacks like this happening in Future City, then Metal City, now Tech City."

Tonya sighed, "Well, we all knew Tech City was gonna get hit next."

"Yeah", Charmy added. "This is a cursed city remember?"

"Yes well apparently Mobius will be cursed as well if we don't stop these creatures", Ker had said.

"Yeah and how are we going to stop them?" Shadow asked. "We're not a worldwide organization. We can't be at three or four places at the same time."

Rouge nodded, "Shadow's right. These things just keep popping up like fucking daises."

Vector placed his hand on his forehead and rubbed it in frustration. "Okay everyone just calm down. First of all we can't give up hope. That is not an option understand?"

Everyone made a nod.

The crocodile continued, "Second of all we're not Mobius' one and only hope you know. They're detectives everywhere. Even in Future and Metal City. Our main objective right now is to stop these creatures from destroying the city in any way we can." He looked over to Shadow and Ker. "Shadow, you're a half-demon. You can sense these things out pretty good can't you?"

He crossed his arms, "How the hell do you think I found that Almas in the first place?"

Charmy raised his hand in the air, "Oh! Oh! Question! Question!"

Vector turned to the bee in annoyance, "What is it, Charmy?"

Charmy began to ask his question. "Um yeah about The Almas...why do we call them The Almas anyway?"

Espio slapped his forehead, "Must we go over this again, Charms?"

Ker started to answer, "Allow me to explain. Because these creatures are nothing but tainted souls taking the bodies of corpses and using them to walk around to take what they need from these people...blood. These souls can take the form of any dead body so don't be surprised if you ever see a loved one rising back from the grave."

Midnight turned to Ker, "How do you know all this, Ker?"

"Because years ago when I was still with my brothers and sisters, we've encountered a couple. Those poor souls...after that I thought they were all extinct and would never return, but it seems that some kind of new being has decided to bring them back for some reason."

"How awful", Tonya thought of all the innocent citizens of Tech City would die because of the creatures.

Rouge watched Shadow yawn and smiled, "Looks like someone's sleepy."

The ebony hedgehog blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Well what do you expect? I've been chasing down those creatures all night."

Rouge then remembered that tomorrow would be Shadow's birthday. She leaned her head on his chest and laughed a bit. "You know what? In a couple of hours, it'll be your birthday, Shad."

"Huh?" Shadow had completely forgot about his birthday because he was so busy. "My...birthday?"

She placed her hands on her hips and sighed. "Shadow The Hedgehog, I can't believe you forgot about your own birthday. Heh and you call me stupid."

Espio smiled, "Hey that's right! It is your birthday tomorrow! How old will you be? 27? 28?"

The hedgehog sighed, "I don't see what the big deal is. I'm just getting older."

Rouge embraced her lover and stroked her fingers through his quills. "Aw, Shad's just getting cranky because he thinks he's getting too old. Well don't worry hun, you have a long way to go before that happens."

Espio and Charmy started to snicker because of the way Rouge kept talking to him.

Shadow sighed with annoyance and took Rouge's hand. "Can we please just go home? I have a headache and I'm tired."

She made a small smile, "Okay, Shad."

After they left, everyone else started to leave too.

Tonya looked over to Ker and noticed him holding his head. "Ker, is something wrong? You don't look very good yourself."

The demon winced as he turned to her, "Oh, I guess I got a little headache too, but don't worry. I'll be all right."

She smiled, "If you say so. Oh, do you want me to walk you to Kassidy's?"

He shook his head, "No really, I'm fine. Just try to get some rest."

"All right."

When Tonya left, Ker took his hand from his head and sighed because his headache was starting to go away. 'Why did I get that sudden headache? Was this because of a demon that was near? Or was...Darkness just affecting me?'

**A/N: Sweet! I finally started! I wanted to start this so much and I know most of you have been dying to read it. So here it is and I hope you enjoyed the first chap. R&R please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**DARKNESS RISES AGAIN**

"_It's in your blood. You're a blood thirsty demon who will only exist in this world to carry out the destruction of every living being you can sink your fangs into...but to get stronger, you must seek me for power. That is what he desires and in the end that is what you will too."_

"No...you're wrong! No! No!"

"Shadow? Shadow!"

Shadow had opened his eyes and found himself in his bedroom with Rouge having her hand on his shoulder and giving him a worried look. He panted heavily because of the dream he just had.

"Shadow?" She called again. "Are you all right?"

He noticed he was clenching the bed sheets and let go of them. He rose his head from his pillow and held his head, trying to get himself together.

"Was it another bad dream?" She asked while she rubbed his back.

He made a nod, "Unfortunately."

"I don't understand. You haven't been getting a goodnight's rest for awhile and even when you were asleep, you start...growling. Not to mention your stubborn attitude you've been having lately too. Shadow, I'm worried about you." When she started to reach out to him, he grabbed her wrist in a tight grip. "Sha-Shadow?"

"...I'm fine." He let go of her wrist, got out of bed, and walked towards the window while he was still holding his head as if he had a headache.

Rouge was afraid that something really bad was happening to him and she wanted to find out what, but she thought she already had a pretty good idea. She got out of bed and stood beside him. "It's Darkness isn't it?"

"Rouge..."

"Yes it is! Because this was exactly what happened to you the first time Darkness was set free." She crossed her arms, "And you haven't been taking the medication Espio made for you lately either have you?"

"I don't need it!"

"That's bullshit! You need to take it everyday in case something bad happens and you know that!"

His headache was getting worse while they kept yelling at each other. "Shut up! Just shut the fuck up, Rouge!"

She froze when she heard Shadow's loud voice and felt his anger rising. Tears came to her eyes because she was so scared about what was happening to him. She leaned on his chest and started to cry. "Please, Shadow...just please listen to me. Stop acting this way. You...you're scaring me..." She buried her face in his chest and started to sob.

Shadow then realized what he had done to Rouge and wrapped his arms around her body. "I-I'm sorry, Rouge", he whispered. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that." He kissed her forehead and made her look up at him so he could wipe away her tears.

"Shadow, promise me you'll do it first thing in the morning."

He didn't see the point of taking those pills every day. They had only helped to calm him and that barely worked most of the time. It was no guarantee that the pills could completely stop Darkness from taking him over. He hesitated to answer, but he wanted her to believe that he would do it just to make her happy. "Yeah...I promise."

She formed a small smile and kissed his lips lightly, "Thank you, Shadow." Before she could get back in the bed, Shadow took her by her wrist and pulled her back to him. Her body had leaned on his with her head on his chest.

He placed his finger under her chin and made her look up at him.

She didn't know what it was, but she had the feeling that something was terribly wrong. It was like he was going through some kind of manly mood swings. She was then suddenly pulled into a kiss while his arms were wrapped around her body. When she was being held in his loving embrace, she started to forget about everything. She let out a small gasp of excitement as he began to kiss towards her neck. She wanted to know what was really wrong with him because she cared for him, but now she just decided to ignore it all. "Shadow..." She whispered softly while she felt the feel of his lips on her smooth skin. She suddenly felt a sharp pain being stuck into her neck. It felt like a needle. She winced, "Shad? Shadow! Stop!" She pushed his body from hers and backed away from him. She stared at the blood dripping from his mouth in horror.

He licked his lips hungrily and noticed the frightened look on his girlfriend's face. Looking at that had finally snapped him out of what he was doing. "Rouge?"

"Stay away from me, Shadow!" She shouted with tears. She placed her hand on her neck and found the place he had bit her. She took her hand away from her neck and stared at the blood. She looked back at him in fright, "Shadow...you bit me..."

He was devastated. He had bitten her and he knew that wasn't the only time it had happened. "Rouge, I'm so sorry..." He then leaned his body against the wall and held his head while he had started to growl.

His inner demon was trying to escape him, but she didn't know what to do about it. ."Shadow..."

"Rouge, get away from me! I...I don't want to hurt you again..."

Her eyes started to swell up in tears. All she wanted to do was help him but he kept rejecting her just for her safety. She didn't want to listen.

When he saw her take a step towards him, he snarled. "I said get the fuck away from me! Get out of here!"

She didn't want to leave him alone but at the same time, she was afraid of the demon inside of him. She had no choice but to listen to him. She slowly walked over to the bedroom door and placed her hand on the doorknob. She started to hesitate before leaving until she heard his loud voice again.

"Now damn it!"

She then opened the door and quickly ran out.

When she left, he held his wrist near his bared fangs and sunk them into his flesh. He moaned in satisfaction when he tasted his delicious blood flowing inside of his mouth. Tasting blood was the only thing to calm the demon inside of him, but he was hurting in the inside. He just knew that Rouge was somewhere else in the house breaking down into tears over his behavior.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**COLD MORNING**

The next morning, Rouge came from downstairs and walked into the kitchen, noticing Shadow sitting at the table with his head in his hand looking tired. She tried not to yawn as she entered the kitchen because she was so worried about Shadow, she didn't get that much sleep herself. She walked over to the kitchen sink and looked down at the dirty dishes that was in it so she didn't have to face Shadow. She didn't want to completely ignore him because she still felt concerned for him. "Good morning, Shadow."

His eyes traveled to the bandage that was wrapped around her neck to cover up the bite mark he made. He saw a new newspaper lying on the table so he picked it up and started to read it because he didn't want to look at her any longer. It had hurt him too much. "Good morning."

She looked away from the dishes and back at him while he was reading the newspaper. "Happy birthday, Shad."

He then remembered that today was his birthday. He was so tired and caught up in all the excitement last night, he had forgotten again. "...Thanks, babe."

She sighed and couldn't believe that he was still having that attitude of his. She turned away from him and looked into the cabinets to find Shadow's pills but couldn't find them anywhere. "Hey, Shadow?"

"What?"

"Where did you put those pills?"

He sighed and turned a page of the newspaper. "I threw the bottle away."

The bat's eyes widened, "What? Are you fucking crazy? Why the hell did you do that?"

He looked away from the paper and looked up at her. "You didn't let me finish...There were only two left so I took them and threw that empty bottle away."

She remembered the last time he did take his pills, there were only but a few left so he must was telling the truth. She placed her hands on her chest and sighed in relief. "Oh thank God. You did take them this morning then. I'm proud of you, Shad."

He sighed and set the newspaper back down on the table and remembered what he had really done with the pills. There weren't many left and since Rouge didn't remember how many were left in it, he took all of the left over pills and flushed them down the toilet. He had no idea what convinced him to do that, but he figured it would be pointless to take them when they didn't work for him half of the time.

"I guess we'll have to tell Espio to get you some more huh?"

He sighed heavily. He just wanted to say to her that everything's fine and he doesn't need them, but looking at the wound he made on her neck last night, told him that everything was not fine. "Yeah I suppose so."

She gave him a melancholic look, walked over to him, and sat in his lap. She placed her hand on his cheek and made him face her. "Look at me, Shad. I'm going to go run some errands today and I may not be back for awhile so here..." She took out a small silver heart shaped locket and placed it in his hands. "I got this for your birthday."

He opened the locket and saw a picture of him and Rouge together when he had taken her out on their very first date.

She noticed him just staring at the picture inside of it without a word slipping from his lips. "I...I hope you like it."

He placed his hand on her waist and pulled her into a quick kiss on the lips. "I love it, babe. Thank you."

She formed a small smile and was relieved that he liked her gift.

He looked up at the clock that was hanging on the wall and turned to Rouge. "You might want to get going."

"Oh, you're right." She took her body off of his and gathered the things she needed before leaving. She turned to the hedgehog again and kissed his forehead. "Try to have a good day today and don't work too hard. Don't even go in if you don't feel well."

He shook his head slightly, "No, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me too much."

After hearing those words, she didn't know if she could stop worrying. "All right", she opened the door and started to walk out the door. "I love you Shadow, never forget that."

"I won't...I love you too, Rouge. Be careful out there."

Her smile had widened because he had still cared for her safety. "I will." She then walked out the door.

Later, at an old abandoned house, the Street Punks were gathered on a torn up sofa watching the news from their TV which was in really bad shape.

Maxcell stared at the unclear TV in frustration. "Man, we really need a new TV."

Zena formed a smirk, "Then I'll be sure to steal one when I go back out."

The gray fox hushed them, "Shut up you two! I'm trying to listen to this!"

Appex looked away from them and listened to what the news reporter was talking about.

All over the news, everyone's been discussing about the new monster attacks that has been happening all over Mobius and how many innocent lives have died from them.

Appex crossed his arms began to think about what the monsters really are. 'Monsters?'

Lance formed a smirk, "You know those things could be demons."

The red porcupine sighed, "Of course they're demons. What else could they be?"

The gray fox sat on the armrest of the sofa and started to search for his cigarette pack in his pants pocket. "There's no doubt those losers are getting involved with this as well." He took out the box of cigarettes and a lighter. He took one out of the pack, lit it with the lighter and started to smoke it.

"You mean the Chaotix?" The brown chipmunk asked.

The fox made a nod, "Yup."

Appex turned to his leader. "Lance, what would happen if we ever came in contact with those creatures?"

"Simple. You kick their ass."

Maxcell smiled towards the fox, "Yeah! Like you always do with those losers!"

"But they look really strong. We seriously can't expect to kill them so easily with just our bare hands", Appex explained.

The fox blew out some smoke and faced him. "Appex, you really need to lighten up and let loose sometimes. You're always...so damn serious."

He did nothing but clench his fists and give him an annoying glare.

Lance noticed the look he had in his eyes and rose an eyebrow, "You're not giving me that stupid look again are you, Appex? I know you know better than to give me that look."

He knew Lance would get angry at him if he ever directed his bad attitude towards him. Appex tried to calm down by taking a deep breath, "...Of course not."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**RAMPAGE**

Meanwhile, Shadow was walking down the sidewalk of the city, making his way towards the Chaotix to meet the others. He had his hands in his pants pockets because it was so cold out. He stopped walking and looked up at the gray sky blankly. He watched as rain started to drizzle down from the sky and it had soon started to pour down harder.

The Mobians that were walking around him, gave him strange looks while they were noticing he was just staring at the gray sky. They were starting to think that he was crazy.

As the rain poured harder, he looked away from the sky and turned to the Mobians that were staring at him. He sighed and continued to walk towards the Chaotix. He thought they had every right to stare at him, like he was some sort of freak. Because of Darkness being inside of him, it made his whole life a living Hell. 'It's his fault I'm like this...'

When he had got to the Chaotix, he walked inside and saw everyone gathered in the lobby drinking coffee.

They all stared at him and the way he had looked. They all knew that something was wrong with him because of the melancholic look on his face.

Vector took a sip from his mug as he saw Shadow slowly confront them. "You're five minutes late, Shad."

He looked up at him with a few drops of rain running down his face, "I know. I'm sorry, Vec."

He placed his mug on a table and turned to the hedgehog with worry. "Shadow, what's wrong? Shouldn't you be happy that today's your birthday?"

He sighed and turned away from him muttering, "No, not really."

"Hey, what's wrong with, Shadow?" Tonya whispered to Espio.

"I don't know", he replied. "Something must have happened between him and Rouge last night I guess."

Midnight saw Shadow sit on a desk and stare down at the floor sadly. 'Shadow...'

Espio walked over to the hedgehog and punched him in the arm playfully. "Come on, Shad. It's your birthday so cheer up a little."

Charmy giggled as he and rest walked over to him. "Yeah! Cheer up, emo kid!"

Shadow gave him an annoyed look from the comment, "Fuck you, Charmy."

The chameleon sighed, "Stop being such a grouch and prepare for your birthday presents." He took out a new and fairly pointed kunai from his belt pocket and handed it to Shadow. "You said you always wanted one, so there you go. A new kunai knife just for you."

He took the sharp kunai and held it in his hands.

Espio backed away a bit, hoping he wouldn't get murderous with it. "Careful Shad, it's pretty sharp."

He placed it in the back of his belt pocket and tried to form a small smile towards Espio. "Thanks Es, I'll be sure to take good care of it."

Vector walked up to him with a piece of paper and handed it to him.

The ebony hedgehog took it and started to read some of it. "What? Whenever the leader is absent and the team is left without a leader to guide them, it is up to the second in command to take his or her place at all times. However, if the leader is presumed dead or deceased the second in command will be left to take his or her place as the new leader of the Chaotix. Vector, what the fuck? You trying to tell me that someone's trying to kill your ass!"

The crocodile shrugged, "You'll never know what could happen. That's why I need you to stay alive for me. Got it?"

He formed small smile but it didn't seem like a hopeful one, "Yes, sir." He then looked over to the purple cat who held a small bracelet that was made by a string with seashells in her hands.

She blushed as she held it up towards him, "Remember when I had that stupid crush on you? I was so obsessed with you, you were all I could think about..." She had stopped herself when Espio was giving them both disgusted looks. "Anyway, I made this for you." She placed it in his hands. "Just think of it as a...friendship bracelet."

He studied it then looked up at Tonya with a small smile. "I like it. Thanks, Ton."

She formed a wide smile as her face turned cherry red.

Ker and Midnight came up to him with a handmade card it seemed.

Midnight gave it to him, "We didn't know what to get you so we made you a card about how much you've helped us."

"Oh thanks." He began to read it. "To our new Captain, we were once enemies but you somehow broke through our wall of confusion and turned us into completely different beings, despite of what we are. We're happy that we have such a great friend like you. From, Ker and Midnight...Thank you, guys."

They both smiled and were glad that he had liked their gift.

Then they had all had their eyes on Charmy who stared back at them dumbfounded.

The kid bee shrugged, "What?"

"Well, Charmy?" Tonya started.

"Where's your present?" Espio asked.

"Well...um...you see...it's not quite ready yet. I'm still trying to make some extra modifications. It'll be done soon though. I promise."

Shadow rose an eyebrow, "Oh? So it's another one of your crazy experiments I presume?"

Charmy formed a wide smile, "Not saying a word, Captain Shadow."

He sighed, "With a big mouth like yours, I doubt if that'll last."

"Right!" He shouted sarcastically. "Let's just say, it'll be worth the wait."

Suddenly Shadow and Ker held their heads and groaned as if they had a bad headache.

Tonya gave them a worried look, "Shadow? Ker? What's wrong with you two?"

The white haired demon winced, "An Almas..."

Before anyone could do anything, Shadow quickly got off the desk and ran out the door while taking out his machete.

"Wha? Wait, Shadow!" Vector had called but it was too late. Shadow had already gone to find the Almas. The crocodile turned to the white haired demon. "Ker, track Shadow down."

With his demon senses, he could track down any demon or half demon including the Almas and Shadow. He made a nod, "Okay I got his scent. Lets move fast." He then led the rest of the group out the door.

Meanwhile, Shadow had made it into the city and it didn't take him long to find the Almas. He saw it scaring away the Mobians because of its appearance and it's monstrous behavior. He studied the Almas' body and saw that its skin was brown and it had an extra arm growing out of its back. He also saw it tackle a young woman down onto the wet pavement with its fangs growing longer as it was going to bite her.

The woman's screams were full of panic and fright.

'What poor creatures they are...They were once pure souls after all. Why did they become this? Why do they have such a craving for blood?' He raised his machete, 'There are two ways to kill these things...'He studied its head, 'Decapitation of the head or blowing up the body.' He began to charge towards it with his machete in position. He came behind it and cut its third arm off its back, sending blood flying all over him.

The Almas let out a cry full of pain and got off of the terrified woman, directing its attention to Shadow.

Shadow watched its arm fall to the ground with blood flowing out of it. His eyes widened as he stared at it and while blood was dripping from his face. He looked up at the Almas, ready to strike at him. He raised his machete once more, ran up to it, and didn't hesitate when he cut its head clear off his body. One final cry of the Almas was all he heard after he had killed it. He then dropped his machete to the ground and fell to his knees while he was panting heavily until the woman that the Almas was trying to kill, walked up to him with a smile of relief on her face.

"Oh, thank you so much! You saved me from that monster! You're a lifesaver! A hero!"

He slowly looked up at the woman with his demonic eyes fixed on hers. His eyes traveled to her neck. Staring at her neck, made him lick his lips hungrily. He weakly got off the ground and suddenly grabbed her by her neck with his hand.

The woman tried to take his hand away from her but he was too strong. She was then suddenly pinned to the ground. While her body was laying on the wet ground, she looked up at the hedgehog with his sharp fangs appearing from his mouth. She tried to scream for someone to help her because she was so terrified, but he had placed his other hand over her mouth. 

He parted his fangs and tilted his head near her neck.

The rest of the Chaotix finally caught up to him and saw Shadow pinning down a young woman and taking blood from her neck.

Tonya gasped and placed her hands over her mouth, "Oh God...Shadow...", she whispered in sadness.

Espio clenched his fists and couldn't watch another moment of it. "Sha-Shadow!" He shouted, knowing that he had gotten his attention when he gasped for air from the woman's bloody neck.

Even though he had heard Espio's voice, he didn't bother to turn.

The chameleon called again, "Shadow! I know you can hear me! Stop this right now!"

After hearing his voice the second time, he got off of the woman's now lifeless body and turned to the group with his mouth soaked in blood.

"Shadow, do you realize what you've just done?" Vector said, hoping to talk some sense back into him. He had hoped that Darkness wouldn't take him over completely and start to attack them as well.

It took a while for Shadow ro realize what he had just done when he looked back at the lifeless woman who was bleeding to death from her neck. He stared at her face full of agony and immediately snapped out of it. His eyes widened and knew what he had done. 'I...killed her...' He back away from her body slowly, still staring at her body.

"Shadow?" Midnight called. "Are you..."

"I...need to be alone now", Shadow then slowly walked past the group in sorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**RUNAWAY**

The group watched as Shadow walked away in sadness after what he had done to the woman.

Vector sighed as he stared at the body, "I guess we better cover up for Shad...even though we're not supposed to be doing this."

Midnight made a nod. He even knew what they were going to report to the authorities would be a lie to just cover up what had really happened to her. However, they didn't want Shadow to get in trouble despite that he couldn't help it.

Later, Shadow was in his bedroom lying on his bed trying to figure out what he was going to do about Darkness. Everyone he had loved or tried to help always got hurt in some way. He rested his head on his pillow and tried to think of a way to keep Darkness in control until he thought of the voice that kept taunting him in his dreams.

'_We have a lot in common you and I...seek me for power and you will no longer suffer in emotional agony.'_

He took his head away from his pillow and sat on the bed, starting to think that maybe that could be the answer he was searching for. "That voice in my dreams", he whispered. "It was Dark's...but what did he mean to seek him for power?" He got off the bed, walked towards his bedroom window, and stared at the little droplets of rain that was falling from the gray sky. He sighed, 'I think I know what I must do...' He then started to search though his closet until he found a dark blue backpack. 'Rouge, forgive me...'

Later, it was dusk and Rouge had finally returned back to Shadow's house. She came through the door and noticed that the house was dark and felt empty. Something in her mind made her worry about Shadow. She began to call his name while she was walking upstairs and towards the bedroom but no answer. When she got to the bedroom, the door was shut. She had gotten more suspicious because the door was always open most of the time. She turned the doorknob and surprisingly, the door had opened. When she walked into the room, she sighed in relief when she saw her boyfriend laying on the bed. "Oh, Shadow. There you are." She walked towards the bed and sat beside him while stroking her fingers through the quills on his head. "I thought you weren't here because it was so quiet in the house." She noticed he wasn't talking and began to worry again. "So...how was your day?"

"...I don't want to talk about it", he had murmured.

Her ears flopped down in sadness because Shadow was still in a bad mood. She leaned over to him and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry Shad, things will start to look up. You'll see."

He watched her get off the bed and walk into the bathroom to probably take a shower. 'I wish I could say the same thing.'

Later, Shadow stood beside Rouge while wearing the backpack that he had put his things in from earlier. He watched as Rouge was sleeping on her side of the bed peacefully. "Rouge", he whispered as he stroked his hand lightly on her face. "I'm so sorry I have to leave like this, but I don't want to hurt you anymore." He leaned over to her, kissed her forehead, and sadly walked out the door.

Later in the outskirts of the city, Ker was there keeping a watchful eye out for any Almas that was roaming the city so he could try and stop them. He sniffed the air, 'Hmm, I wonder why it rained all day? Now the air smells like rain.' He lost his train of thought when he heard footsteps in front of him. Since he was wearing his blindfold, he didn't really know who it was. "Who's there?"

Whoever it was, they had remained silent.

"Speak now. I already know that you're not an Almas." He knew it couldn't be an Almas because there was no heavy breathing or no savage footsteps to be heard.

"Ker..."

Right away, Ker had recognized the voice who called his name. "Shadow? Wha-What are you doing out this late? Shouldn't you be at home with Rouge?"

The hedgehog remained silent.

He was starting to worry about Shadow's behavior and thought that it was connected with what had happened earlier. "Shadow, about earlier...it wasn't your fault. Darkness..." The next thing he knew, he heard Shadow run behind him with only a few steps of his feet it seemed. He didn't turn because he was so shocked that he was acting like this. "Shadow?"

"Ker", he spoke softly. "Thank you."

"What? Shadow, I don't understand", he then felt something hit him hard in the neck, causing him to feel lightheaded. "Sha...dow..." His body collapsed to the ground.

**A/N: I know this chap was extremely short but the next one will be longer. R&R please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**DISAPPEARANCE**

The next morning, Rouge had awoken when the sunlight came through the window and shone on her. She slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Shadow's side of the bed and he wasn't in it. She even saw it messy and unmade. Usually if Shadow woke up before her, the side of his bed would be made. She instantly knew something wasn't right. "Shadow?" She called softly.

Later, Tonya and Kassidy were walking towards the outskirts of the city to find Ker since he never came home.

The brown fox turned to the cat, "I'm worried, Tonya. What if an Almas got him? I knew he shouldn't be out here alone and in the middle of the night. I should've went with him."

Tonya gave her a look of sympathy, "Don't worry Kass, you know Ker. He was one of the fourteen demons remember? He's a big boy. He can take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine."

She turned away from her and looked towards the ground. "I guess you're right but still, I can't help to worry about him..." She then looked away from the ground and looked up ahead of them. She noticed a human like man laying on the ground wearing a black cloak with the sun reflecting from his white hair. She gasped and quickly ran over to him in panic, "Ker!"

"Ker? Oh no!" Tonya ran over to him as well to see if he was still alive. When she kneeled down to him, she didn't see any scratches or scars. He was still in good shaped it seemed.

"Ker?" Kassidy called while she was shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. "Oh Ker, please wake up! Please!"

The young demon had moved around a bit after Kassidy shook him until he finally regained consciousness. When he heard the two girls' voices, he looked up and faced them. "Tonya...Kassidy?"

The two girls sighed in relief and hugged the demon. "Ker, you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay. I was just more or less sleeping. What happened while I was unconscious?"

Tonya helped the confused demon off the ground, "That's what we'd like to know. Do you know what happened last night before you were knocked out cold?"

Ker got to his feet and started to remember what had exactly happened from last night. "It all seemed like one weird dream but..."

"But what?" Kassidy asked eagerly.

"I think Shadow came to me. He said such weird things...the next thing I knew something hit me and after that...total blackout."

Tonya remained silent for a moment when he mentioned Shadow's name. "Wait, Shadow was here? Last night? Why?"

The demon shrugged.

Kassidy turned to her, "We should get to the Chaotix and find out what's going on."

The cat made a nod in agreement. "Right. Lets go."

When Ker, Kassidy, and Tonya made it to the Chaotix, the group faced them in confusion and sadness.

Tonya looked over to Rouge and saw her practically on the verge of crying. She walked over her, trying to comfort her. "Rouge, what's wrong and where's Shadow?"

The bat shook her head sadly, "We don't know."

"Wha-what? You mean you all don't know where he is?"

Rouge had wiped a tear from her eye, "We think he ran off last night."

"Ran off?" She repeated blankly.

She made a small nod, "I knew something like this would happen but..." She couldn't continue when she bursted out into tears.

She hugged her tightly, "Oh, Rouge..."

Ker sighed in sadness, "This is all my fault. I didn't stop him right then and there."

Kassidy turned to the demon and took his hand, "No one's blaming you, Ker."

Vector tried to get everyone's attention, "We don't know what exactly happened to Shadow but one thing for sure we will find him..."

"Vector!" A female voice was heard from the doorway.

Everyone turned, wondering who it was because the whole gang was already there. When they all turned, they saw a beautiful blue butterfly girl panting at the doorway while holding a black book in her hand.

"Chloe?" Everyone said in a confused state.

Charmy's face lit up with happiness, "Chloe!"

The butterfly walked over to Vector while still panting heavily. "Vector, thank God I found you."

The crocodile rose an eyebrow as he stared at her exhausted face. "Chloe, what brings you here?"

She then held up the small black book in front of him. "Vector, quick! You must read this!"

He didn't know what was going on, but he held the book in his hands, "Wha? Now? Chloe, I don't have the time to read a book. Shadow's missing and..."

"I know and this diary will explain where he is and what will happen if we don't find him."

The crocodile scratched his head in confusion, "What?"

"Because...this diary belongs to Shadow from the future!"

Everyone in the room remained silent and began to think what Chloe really said was real.

"Shadow has a diary?" Espio repeated.

"From the future?" Charmy added.

Chloe nodded and took the diary from Vector's hands. She opened the book to the first page. "I haven't read much because I just found it laying in my backyard this morning, but I read some pretty disturbing material that I think you all should know."

"Like what?" Tonya asked while she and the others gathered around Chloe.

"Like Shadow taking over all of Mobius disturbing."

Once again the room was full of silence.

"No freakin' way!" Charmy shouted in disbelief.

Espio couldn't believe his ears either, "What? Shadow's gonna become king of Mobius or something?"

The butterfly made a small nod, "Just listen to what he wrote and it will answer all of your questions."

Soon everyone's ears were focused on her words as they prepared for what terrifying future lied ahead of them.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW DARKNESS**

_**April 2, 2008**_

_**It seemed like forever since I left my dear friends and family but in reality it's only been two months. I miss them so much, it kills me from the inside. I wish I had never left them, but I had no choice. If I didn't do something about Darkness, then I would've lost them all. I have to do to this. Dark is my only hope to salvation it seems. Even though we're all so far apart, I know we'll never forget each other...**_

"_Shadow!" A voice called from outside Shadow's bedroom door. "Are you ready for more of your training?"_

_The ebony hedgehog looked away from his diary and turned to the door where he heard the voice from. He knew it was Dark and he was prepared to train him more with his demon powers. He looked down at his diary and closed the book shut. "Yes Lord Dark, I am ready."_

"_Meet me in the training area in ten minutes."_

_Afterwards, he heard his footsteps fade down the hallway. He stood from the bed he was sitting on and placed the diary under his mattress. He then searched his closet for his uniform and when he found it, he put it on. He looked in the mirror and stared at the uniform that Dark had wanted him to wear. He was wearing a small black jacket, black skin tight pants, and black gloves. Just staring at his miserable expression in the mirror made him feel like some kind of prisoner. He turned away and walked out the door._

_Later, he was in an elevator on his way down to the underground training area. He stared at the huge area that Dark had prepared for them. He couldn't believe that Dark still had rebuilt his ice base into a bigger and better looking base of operations. He sighed and tried to prepare himself for another day of difficult training._

_When the elevator reached its destination, Shadow walked out and saw Dark having his back against the wall with his arms crossed looking impatient. He confronted him with a gloomy mood._

_Dark noticed the way he looked and how he was acting, but he knew he was only acting that way because he missed his friends and family. He had been like that ever since he came to him for help to control Darkness. He had seen him in a bad mood so much, he practically considered his sadness to be a normal trait of his. "Good evening, Shadow."_

_He kneeled down to the floor while he bowed his head, "As to you, my lord."_

_He formed a small smile. He had never thought that Shadow would ever respect him in such a way. Every time he did that, he couldn't help but to smile. He began to walk to the other side of the area. "I assume you rested your body well?"_

_He slowly got back on his feet and crossed his arms, "Of course, my lord."_

"_Good." He faced the hedgehog, "You'll need it."_

"_What will we be doing today?"_

_The demon smiled, "Same exercise as usual. Kill as many Almas you can without using any of your Chaos powers."_

_He sighed and could practically already feel the searing aches in the muscles all over his body. When he first found out that Dark was the one controlling the Almas, he didn't find that very surprising as he should have. He then focused on the Almas that started to appear from the floor. So many had appeared so fast. He was surrounded in only a matter of seconds. As he looked around the room, all he could think of was once innocent souls made into a bunch of deformed puppets by Dark. He watched Dark fly into the air with his wings and look down at him with the same evil smirk that was always on his face._

"_Remember", he said. "You can only depend on Darkness' powers for your chance of survival."_

_As much as it sounded cruel, he was right. If he became weak in battle, then Dark would sit and watch the Almas tear him apart. Either way, everyday of practice meant choosing a path between life and death. He then looked back at the Almas coming towards him and clenched his fists. As one Almas jumped at him with its claws positioned, he grabbed its wrist and threw its whole body towards a group of them knocking them all to the floor._

_One Almas tried to stab him with its claw from beside him, but Shadow had raised his leg and kicked the creature over the other side of the room._

_Dark watched Shadow perform extremely well with his hand to hand combat skills. 'Hmm, he's getting faster...better. He is indeed Mobius' ultimate being.'_

_After taking out another Almas, he practically collapsed to the floor because of exhaustion. He then fell to his knees and could feel his whole body in pain. He didn't think he could take it anymore._

_Dark watched the remaining Almas surround him while he was down on the floor. "Shadow!" He had called. "Call on Darkness! Release him!"_

_The hedgehog clenched his fists and shut his eyes tightly until he felt a weird sensation in his body. He suddenly cried out in pain as two huge black transparent wings came from his back, huge sharp claws grew from his fingertips, two long horns came from his head, his tail grow longer, and his eyes were piercing red._

_Dark's evil smirk appeared once more after Shadow had transformed into Darkness. He watched him get to his feet and start slaughtering the Almas with his claws._

_Every attack Darkness made with the Almas, blood was sent flying everywhere. It was only a matter of time until half of the Almas were wiped out. The savage demon licked the blood from his hands while watching the rest of the Almas walk towards him. Before he attacked them head on, he stopped in his tracks and acted like he was in pain again._

_Dark rose an eyebrow, 'This is odd behavior. Why is Darkness acting this way? Like he's in pain? Something strange is going on...' Suddenly Dark saw three long black tentacles growing out of his back. 'Wha-what is that?'_

_Darkness looked up at the Almas trying to strike him again, but they couldn't get to him because the tentacles whacked them away. The tentacles even sunk into their flesh and rammed a giant gapping hole through their bodies. It was only a matter of time until every single Almas was killed._

_With shock, Dark glided down to the floor and walked towards Darkness who transformed back into his normal self. "That was impressive, Shadow."_

_Shadow's head was tilted down to the floor while he stared at an Almas' lifeless body._

"_I've never seen such a trait before. It's like you have another..." He was then stopped when he saw Shadow kneeling on the floor and start eating the remains of the Almas. He couldn't help but to stare at him while smiling. "Do you like this new power, boy?"_

_He took his mouth away from the Almas, exposing his blood soaked mouth. "No...I love it." He then continued to eat the creature from the inside out._

_With excitement yet fear, Dark smiled nervously at the hedgehog. "Yes", he murmured. "You will become a fine leader for my army..."_

**A/N: Shadow turned into such an animal. Wonder what'll happen next. R&R pwease!**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

**TAKING CONTROL**

_**November 10, 2010**_

_**It's been years now since I've been training with Dark and every inch of the effort I had is finally paying off. I never felt so strong before in my life. All of this new power I gained in the process of training with Dark, just makes me feel so damn good every time I unleash it. It's like I become a completely different person and I love it. I don't feel so sad anymore because my mind has been filled with new ideas. New hopes and dreams about my future. The memories that I once held dearly are no more. Friends...family...why the hell do I need to mourn over them? The only thing I need to treasure now is my cursed gift of having Darkness inside of me. Besides, I have a feeling that today is the day. The day that Dark and I return to Tech City to wreck havoc. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll run into my old friends...**_

_Shadow and Dark were just finishing up their training for the morning in the underground training area._

_Dark approached Shadow while staring at him killing the last Almas with his tentacles without struggle._

_With a tentacle stabbed through its body, Shadow quickly jerked the bloody black tentacle out of its body and dropped the Almas' dead corpse on the floor. He stared at the lifeless creature and licked his lips full of bloodlust until he snapped out of it from the clapping from Dark's hands. He looked up at him in annoyance._

_The demon watched the tentacle ease back inside of his body and tried to focus his attention on the hedgehog. "You've done well, Shadow. I can remember like it was yesterday. At first you were struggling so much with defeating the Almas but now, you're killing them with ease and without hesitation. This shows me that you have improved."_

_The hedgehog crossed his arms and waited impatiently for him to get to what he was saying. He hated the way Dark had always lectured him. It reminded him of the many times Vector had lectured him about things._

"_Anyway, if you haven't realized it yet, today is the day. The day we go back to Tech City..."_

"_...To destroy it"Shadow had finished._

_He made a nod, "Yes and with you as the leader of my army, we are invincible."_

_He made a nod, agreeing with him. Deep down, he wanted to be more than just the leader of an Almas army. It just made him feel inferior and he didn't like the thought of that._

_Later, Shadow and Dark arrived at the city. They were both standing on a hill looking down upon the peaceful city._

"_At last...the day of reckoning has come." Dark smirked as he raised his hand towards the blue sky that was slowly turning into a gray color. Soon, a blackish glow came from his hand and surrounded him and Shadow._

_The next thing Shadow knew was that they were surrounded by an army of Almas staring at the city in excitement. He looked over to Dark, awaiting his orders._

_Dark turned to him and made a nod meaning Shadow could lead the Almas into the city._

_The hedgehog nodded and used Chaos Control to warp the Almas and himself into the city._

_Once they got in the city, Shadow immediately released the creatures out on their rampage on the unexpected victims of the city. It was only a matter of seconds before he heard the Mobians' screams that were full of panic and fright. He formed a sly smile, 'Music to my ears.'_

_A few hours had passed and the entire city was under siege from the terrifying Almas and the two powerful demons, Shadow and Dark._

_It wasn't too long before the attack started and Sarah had sent military troops into the city to stop the demons but they could not defeat them. All of the brave GUN soldiers fell and Shadow had found Sarah and killed her. The city was now their own idealistic Hell._

_Shadow was roaming the streets, making his way towards the Chaotix building until he felt the ground vibrating and the sound of a loud machine behind him. He quickly spun around and saw a GUN tank coming towards him. He then calmed himself and smirked, knowing he would be able to destroy the tank with ease._

_When the tank was about to fire, the barrel of the machine had suddenly bent causing it to be really dangerous to fire._

_Shadow smirked as he had his piercing red demonic eyes focusing on the tank. He remembered back when Dark had taught him how to use telekinesis with Darkness' eyes. It was practically an unbeatable weapon to everything that stood in his way. He then raised his hand towards the tank and clenched it, causing the tank to explode into pieces at the same time. Afterwards, he lowered his hand beside his waist and was about to walk towards the Chaotix until he heard a familiar and mysterious voice behind him._

"_Well done, Shadow. You have served me well."_

_The hedgehog spun around and saw Dark giving him his usual smirk._

"_Thanks to you Shadow, this entire planet is mine to control. My world full of darkness and despair."_

_The ebony hedgehog frowned and glared towards the demon, "...Your world?"_

_The demon made a nod, "Yes and you shall be by my side and serve me."_

_Shadow clenched his fists in disappointment. "No..."_

_Dark rose an eyebrow in confusion at his reaction, "No?"_

"_You're wrong, Dark. I'm going to rule this world. I...will become king of Mobius!" His glowing red eyes looked into his and suddenly Dark began to bleed from the mouth until his whole body just exploded from the inside out. After when Dark's bloody corpse collapsed to the ground, he continued to walk towards the Chaotix._

_Meanwhile, the Chaotix were at their headquarters running around in panic as they quickly tried to find their best weapons and ammunition to protect themselves against the demons. After what they had watched on the news, they were terrified about the whole situation._

_Charmy stood there trembling with a machine gun in his hands as he nervously looked around the room. "I've never been this scared before you guys."_

_Vector tried to calm down as he tightened his grip around the shotgun he was holding. "Damn it! It's like the fucking apocalypse hit all of Mobius."_

"_We...we can't give up hope", Tonya tried to have faith but she didn't have much._

_Suddenly, the door had flung open and a dark figure had stood at the doorway with glowing red eyes and black tentacles coming from its back._

_Everyone pointed their weapons at the mysterious stranger and was ready to attack until the figure approached them slowly, revealing his face._

_Once he did, everyone dropped their weapons on the floor in shock and confusion. "Shadow!"_

_The hedgehog formed an evil smile and fixed his demonic eyes on the group. "Well, well, if it isn't the Chaotix team. Long time no see."_

_As Rouge's eyes laid upon him, she couldn't hold back her tears of joy. "Shadow", she whispered in a soft voice._

_Tonya's grip around her fans had never eased. Her eyes remained on the black tentacles that was swaying from his back in a wild motion. "Rouge", she whispered. "Something's wrong..."_

_Rouge didn't pay any attention to her and started to walk towards her former lover until Espio took her by her wrist._

"_Rouge!" Espio shouted. "That's not Shadow!"_

_The hedgehog licked his lips in hunger, "You gonna listen to him, Rouge?" He held out his hand to her, "Come to me and be with me once again."_

_The confused bat stared into his eyes once more and now knew that he was a completely different person. His heart, body, and soul was corrupted by darkness. He was no longer the Shadow that they all knew and loved. She began to back away from him until one of his tentacles had wrapped around her wrist and dragged her body towards him._

"_You're not going anywhere, bat girl."_

"_Sha-Shadow!" She screamed in panic._

_Espio took his huge shuriken and positioned it at Shadow, "Drop her, Shadow!"_

_Shadow faced the chameleon in annoyance, "I have a better idea. Why don't you drop dead!" Then his tail had grew longer and hit Espio into Charmy, knocking the machine gun out of Charmy's hands. When Shadow saw the machine gun slide towards him, he bent over to pick it off the floor._

_Midnight's eyes widened as he saw Shadow raise the weapon towards them. "No wait, Shadow!"_

_Espio knew how everything would turn out so he quietly sneaked out the back door, feeling extremely guilty about leaving his fellow comrades behind. 'I'm sorry...'_

_Before anyone could do anything, Shadow pulled the trigger to the gun and shot them all without hesitation._

_While Rouge was being restrained by his grip, she had to stand there and watch the slaughter of her dear friends in front of her eyes. As she saw him shoot them multiple times after the first bullet was shot into their bodies, she couldn't help but to cry and scream. "Stop it, Shadow! Please God stop!"_

_Shadow didn't listen to her begging and only stopped when the machine gun had finally ran out of ammunition. Afterwards, Shadow dropped the gun to the floor with smoke arising from the barrel._

_Rouge stared at the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room and every inch of the room was covered in her friends' blood. She gave him a look full of anger and tears as she continued to sob and attempted to break free of his grip. "You bastard! How could you!" She screamed as she tried to pull away until they both saw a tall man with white silky hair wearing a black cloak come into the room._

_Rouge's eyes widened, thinking it wasn't safe for even Ker to be near Shadow. "Ker..."_

_The young demon saw Shadow having Rouge in his grip and looked around the room, observing the blood and corpses of the Chaotix. He saw the sight and it made him sick but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to look away from the horrid situation. He then slowly looked back up at Shadow, looking scared to death while tears ran down his face. "Shadow...you...you killed them..."_

_Rouge didn't want Ker to become Shadow's next victim as well, "Ker!" She shouted. "Get away!"_

_The young demon didn't move._

_**A/N: Hmm, I think the apocalypse is gonna hit cause I just updated! Yes people three freakin' months in waiting for this chapter and I apoligize. There was no excuse. I was just lazy then busy but most of all lazy. I hope the next chapter won't take so long to post. Well anyway R&R please.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**HELL ON MOBIUS**

_**January 1, 2016**_

_**Today is a new year and I'm definitely assuring that changes will be made throughout my new world. I've been king of Mobius for six years now ever since I killed the many lives of this planet with ease including my old friends. I now have a beautiful queen to be there to support me. Rouge and I have one son. We named him Spike the Hedgehog. He may look innocent and forgiving now since he's only six years old, but there will be no doubt in my mind that he will become a strong and promising leader someday just like me. At last I have Ker, one of my most loyal and strongest servants. At first, Ker didn't want anything to do with me after discovering that I killed Vector, Tonya, Charmy, and Midnight. Although, he didn't have any say in what I wanted. So I forced him to serve me with a special collar that I made. I now control his every move easy. Everything's perfect except for one thing...**_

"_The Underground Rebellion..." Shadow snarled as he leaned against the balcony on the outside of his castle. He looked down upon the old city known as Tech City. The city now was nothing but ruins just as everything else in the world. He looked closer and saw a few homeless and starving Mobians on their knees and praying towards a statue of him with angel like wings on his back. "They want to stop me from ruling my world when they are the ones that need to be stopped." He was then interrupted when he heard a woman's voice call out to him._

"_Is something wrong, my king?"_

_He turned and faced a beautiful white bat wearing a long silky purple dress giving him a look of sympathy. "Sadly yes." He walked to her and stroked his fingers against her face. "I don't mean to worry you. I'm just...depressed."_

"_What troubles you, my king?"_

_He sighed as he started to explain, "It's The Underground Rebellion. I can't find any traces of them at all. I want to capture them and put them all to an end but..." He couldn't finish because he was so frustrated._

_Rouge wrapped her arms around his neck and made him face her. "Believe me you will find them."_

"_I do hope you're right. If I perhaps found Espio then maybe he could tell me where they're hiding." Since Espio was the only one who escaped Shadow, he was assuming that he would be the one leading The Underground Rebellion._

_She formed a small yet promising smile, "You will." She leaned towards him until her lips met his._

_Their moment didn't last long when a small black male hedgehog came into the room looking bored out of his mind._

_Shadow gave the child an annoyed look, "Spike, what are you doing in our bedroom? You know you have to stay in your room. You are prohibited to wander anywhere else in the castle." He didn't like the idea that Spike should stay isolated in his bedroom, but he never wanted him to find anything that would scare him or mentally disturb him since he would kill some of his servants for his own enjoyment and let their bodies rot mainly in the dungeon._

_The child looked down to the floor in sadness, "I'm sorry, father but I..."_

"_Yes? You what?"_

"_...I just wanted to say goodnight and I love you."_

_Shadow then sent him a regretful look. He had gotten so strict about him staying in his room, he felt bad for talking to him that way. He kneeled down to his son and gave him a small smile. "Goodnight my prince, and I love you too."_

_He hugged his father and began to walk back into his room which was practically on the other side of the castle._

_Rouge couldn't help but to smile afterwards, "Spike is such a good boy. He looks up to you."_

_Shadow got off the floor and faced her, "He would have to if he wants to follow in my footsteps." He looked at the almost pitch black sky and back at his queen. "It's getting late. We should get some rest for tomorrow."_

_She made a nod and saw a tall man with white hair down to his shoulders wearing a black cloak and a black collar around his neck. "Oh hello, Ker. What brings you here?"_

_Ker got to his knees to show his apologies for walking into their bedroom uninvited. "My king, my queen...I'm sorry for intruding but I will be patrolling the city tonight along with the Black Army and the Almas to continue searching for The Underground Rebellion."_

"_Good. I want a full report in the morning. Got it?"_

_He made a nod, "Yes, sire."_

_As Ker walked out of the room, Rouge could remember when Ker was so full of life and feelings. Now he was acting like he no longer cared about anything just his duty to serve Shadow because of the collar he made him wear. Her heart raced when she felt her husband wrap his arms around her body from behind. She could feel his breath on her neck as he kissed it gently._

"_Come to bed, my queen."_

_She instantly knew that Shadow wasn't very tired anymore. When they would usually have sex it would be because to release some of Shadow's stress. If she ever refused, he would always beat or hit her. Which pretty much resulted him of being an abuser. She softly made a sad sigh and obeyed him. "As you wish, my king."_

_Meanwhile, in the streets of the practically deserted Tech City, Ker along with Hao's old robots now known as the Black Army and the Almas were patrolling the streets to see if they would see any sign of The Underground Rebellion. If any Mobian was caught out this late, they would instantly be accused of working with The Underground Rebellion and if they didn't plead guilty of it, they would be killed. Ker stopped in his tracks along the wet sidewalk and heard something in the opposite direction in which he was walking. He pointed in that direction so the robots and Almas could follow him. "This way."_

_When they all ran in that direction, a sewer lid had opened from the ground and a purple chameleon and red bird peeked their heads out and looked around for anymore signs of the robots and demons._

_The red bird sighed in relief, "Aw man, Espio. Talk about cutting it close."_

"_No, Magnum. You're wrong. We're far from out of the clear..."_


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

**TO SEEK AND CAPTURE**

_**January 2, 2016**_

_**Ker came to me this morning and once again informed me that he and my army has not seen any sight of The Underground Rebellion. This game of cat and mouse is really starting to fucking piss me off! I know I will find them eventually but unfortunately I am a very impatient man. However, I have this feeling that soon I will not have to proceed with anymore searches...**_

_Ker got on his knees and bowed to Shadow in forgiveness while they met in the throne room. "I'm so sorry I couldn't find them, sire."_

_The hedgehog sighed, "They're such slick bastards." He looked over to Ker and placed his hand on his head because he was suffering from a headache. "Usually if you found one of them, my order would be to kill them immediately but...now I'm changing the rules a bit. If you catch one, bring them to me...alive and I'll deal with the situation from there. Understand?"_

"_Yes, sire."_

"_Good. You are dismissed."_

_Ker stood from the floor and walked out of the room, continuing his daily duties._

_While Rouge sat beside him, she looked over to him in worry. "What do we do in the meantime, my king?"_

"_We wait until those bastards come to us and then once they confront me...they won't know what hit them. They have nerve to try to overthrow me! No one fucking crosses me like that! No one!"_

_She turned away from him in sadness and knew he would slaughter The Underground Rebellion once they were found. 'Espio...'_

_Meanwhile in the city, a pink girl fox child was cornered in an alley by two Black Army robots. She had her back against the wall while she looked up at the robots with tears and fear. "Please", she begged._

"_Violation of Code 639. No Mobian shall wander around the city before noon. You are guilty by law and are sentenced to be annihilated", a robot spoke._

"_Please!" She sobbed. She child shut her eyes tightly until she heard two loud gunshots and a heavy thumping on the ground afterwards. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the two robots on the ground with a huge gapping hole through their bodies. She looked away from them and saw five Mobians standing in front of her smiling. She hesitated to walk towards them because she didn't know who they were but she had a pretty good idea. "Wh-Who are you?"_

_A purple chameleon walked over to her, kneeled down at her, and patted her head. He formed a warm smile, "We're The Underground Rebellion. We protect the innocent from this evil society."_

"_The Underground Rebellion?" The child repeated._

_A young looking pink rabbit woman came up to the child and held her in her arms. "You're going to be all right now. Your life is in good hands."_

_As the chameleon watched the rabbit cradle the child in her arms, a red bird came up to him._

"_Espio", the bird called._

_The chameleon turned to him,"What's up, Magnum?"_

"_We better get going. The robots are bad enough and I don't think we want to run into any Almas."_

_Espio made a nod, "Yeah you're right." He faced the group, "Come on guys. Let's get back to The Underground Sanctuary."_

_Everyone made a nod, "Right."_

_Later when they got back underground, the group led the child through the malodorous tunnels._

_The child held her nose, "It stinks down here."_

_A red fox laughed a bit, "If you're down here as much as we were, there's no doubt you'll get used to the smell."_

_They soon got to the center of the sewers and saw other Mobians sitting around looking paranoid and starving._

_The child's eyes widened, "Wha-what is this place?"_

"_This is The Underground Sanctuary", an orange dog answered. "These are some of the Mobians that were attacked by King Shadow's henchmen."_

_The child placed her hands over her mouth in disgust, "How awful...I...I lost my parents to an Almas and now I'm...all alone."_

_The pink rabbit hugged the child tightly, "Don't feel that way, sweetheart. You're not alone anymore."_

_The child couldn't help but to smile because of the comfort she had with them. "Thank you. So, what are your names?"_

"_Oh! Well, my name is Shana", the pink rabbit answered._

"_Yamato", said the orange male dog._

"_Rika", the red female fox said._

"_I never had a real name but everyone calls me Magnum", the red male bird explained._

"_And my name is Espio", the purple male chameleon said. "Espio the Chameleon and I'm the current leader of The Underground Rebellion."_

_The child was amazed at how cool they seemed because of their strong sense of justice. She just met the rebellion yet she was encouraged with their bravery to go up against King Shadow. "Cool! My name is Laura."_

_Rika formed a wide smile, "Nice to meet you, Laura."_

_The child then wondered if there were more of The Underground Rebellion working elsewhere in the city. "Are there more of you?"_

"_Not really. We're the only known rebellion in this area but we do have one member on a special undercover mission", Espio explained._

"_Undercover?" The child repeated._

"_Yes, she's been undercover and has been by King Shadow's side for at least six years."_

"_Do you think she's okay?"_

"_Of course she is", Yamato answered. "She's been keeping in contact with us every now and then giving us the latest information about what King Shadow will do next."_

"_Wow! She must be really good at being undercover."_

"_She's not just good", Espio added. "She's a strong and reliable warrior. She's the best. That's why she was perfect for the job, but now the time of waiting is over. Years have went by and all we've done is sit on our asses and watch our beloved world fall into the ultimate evil. Too many lives have been lost. It's time to act. Tonight I will infiltrate the castle and assassinate King Shadow!"_

_Everyone gasped in surprise and thought that even though Espio would attempt to kill him, there would be a great chance that he would fail in his mission._

"_What!" The child shouted in panic. "Are you crazy? He'll kill you! King Shadow is the strongest being in the world! There's no way you could possibly..."_

"_I have to try. I'm not just doing this for my health you know. I'm doing it for all the Mobians in Mobius. Right now I choose freedom over being enslaved under King Shadow's laws. Besides...I have to save her. She's all I have left..."_

_Magnum stared at the chameleon sadly, "Espio", he whispered softly._

_The chameleon looked over to Yamato, "Yamato, I need blueprints of the castle that she sent over to us. Inside and out."_

_The dog made a nod, "Okay."_

_Espio then turned to Rika, "Rika, I need weapons with plenty of ammunition."_

_The red fox nodded, "Right."_

_Before Espio could prepare, Magnum had confronted him in sadness. "Magnum?"_

"_Espio, I know we had this all planned from the beginning but...I don't want to lose you. You're my best friend."_

_Espio formed a small smile, "I know...you're mine too and that's why if I end up failing the mission, I'm counting on you to take my place."_

_He made a small nod, "...Right."_

_He placed his hand on his shoulder, "Look out for Shana for me while I'm gone okay?" He said in a soft tone._

_Magnum placed his hands over his eyes so he could hide his tears, "I will", he said in a hoarse voice._

_He took his hand away from his shoulder as he began to prepare. 'Look out Shadow, because I will not hesitate to kill you.'_

**A/N: I think someone's gonna die. XD R&R please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

**INFILTRATING THE CASTLE**

_It was the middle of the night and Espio had finally gotten to the outside of Shadow's castle. He looked up at the sky and noticed that it was bright because of the white moon that lit up the entire night sky. He knew that it wouldn't be easy to break into the castle. As he looked around the area, he saw many robots and demons walking around in every possible direction of breaking in. Before he could even step on King Shadow's territory, he came across a barbwire fence that also had visible electrical wiring going through it. He didn't bother touching it since he saw the electricity going through it. He then reached inside of his brown jacket and took a can of some sort of strange spray. He took the can and sprayed it towards the fence. Afterwards, a huge hole was made just enough for him to get through. He looked at the edges of the destroyed fence and saw part of it severly rusted. "Thank you, Yamato", he spoke under his breath. He then proceed to confront the guards who were guarding the castle._

_Meanwhile inside the castle, Spike was in his room looking out of his window while holding a stuffed brown bear in his hands. He didn't know how, but he knew something bad was about to happen and he wanted to find out what._

_In Shadow and Rouge's bedroom, Rouge tried not to scream or cry as Shadow held her down onto the bed and kissed her all over her body. She was naked only from the waist up. She had always loved Shadow but after when he found out that Darkness had a second state, he acted so differently and he was never the man that she once loved._

_He took his lips away from her skin and held her almost naked body tightly in his arms. "I love you so much, Rouge._

_It took her a few seconds to respond to him because she was still nervous about the situation, "As do I, my king."_

_He kissed her forehead, "I'm so happy that I have a beautiful wife that I can trust."_

_She paused when he mentioned that he had trusted her. It was strange to her because it was obvious that he trusted her enough to marry her but he mentioned trust at such a weird time. She thought that he had unfortunately found something out. Suddenly, she saw Shadow take his body away from hers and look out of the window. She then took advantage of his distraction and started to pull her dress back over her chest area. "Is something wrong, my king?"_

_His eyes traveled towards the ground and noticed that everything outside of the castle had gotten completely silent. That wasn't like his army too keep so quiet. He instantly knew something was not right. He turned to his queen with uprising panic yet he tried to stay calm about the situation. He knew he could kill the intruder with no problem, but he was just worried about Spike's safety. "Rouge, come into the throne room with me."_

_She had no idea what was going on and what was upsetting Shadow but she was eager to find out by following him._

_When they both had arrived into the throne room, they saw some of the robot guards lying on the floors with severe visible damages all over their bodies. All Shadow could do was examine the situation. "What the hell happened?"_

"_Shadow!"_

_When the hedgehog heard a voice call out his name, he looked away from the robots and stared at the purple chameleon that stood in front of them with a machine gun in each hand. His eyes widened in surprise, "Es..Espio? You-you're alive?"_

_The chameleon pointed the two machine guns towards the hedgehog, "Yes I am but you won't be for any longer."_

_Shadow knew it was obvious that Espio had gotten much stronger over the years because of the way he destroyed the demons and robots with such ease and quickness._

_Espio looked over to the white bat standing beside him and smiled in relief. "Rouge, you're...okay."_

"_Espio..." Tears of joy came to her eyes and couldn't help but to try to attempt to embrace the chameleon until Shadow held her back. She looked down at her wrist and saw Shadow tightly gripping it. "Sha-Shadow?"_

"_You're not going anywhere, Rouge", he said to her in a firm voice._

"_Shadow, please..." She begged._

_He ignored her and faced Espio once again. "You have nerve to come here, old friend. You actually want to get captured."_

_The chameleon gritted his teeth in anger, "I didn't come here to be your slave, Shadow. I came here to settle things with you and to save Mobius."_

_Shadow couldn't help but to laugh a bit, "Are you blind? Mobius is saved and have never been in better hands."_

"_Yeah fucking right! You call millions of Mobians starving and living on the streets being in better hands? You're a sick bastard Shadow, and I'm here to end your reign of terror!"_

"_Just try to stop me."_

"_Espio, don't! He-he'll kill you!" Rouge warned with tears running down her face. She then felt her body being dragged behind Shadow._

_Shadow turned to her, "Stay behind me. I don't want anything happening to you."_

_She knew Shadow still wanted to protect her but he was protecting her from the wrong thing._

_The hedgehog smirked, "I'm going to do something I should've done to you years ago."_

_Espio sent him an angry glare and pulled the triggers to the guns, hoping he would shoot Shadow to death just as he did with the Chaotix._

_Shadow's tail then grew longer and surprisingly blocked every bullet that came his way until Espio had finally run out of bullets._

_Espio slammed the empty guns down onto the floor with frustration. He knew that Shadow would be strong but he didn't expect him to be as strong as a hundred Almas put together. He then pulled out two swords from his two sheaths and came towards Shadow with great speed and jumped at him with the swords ready to slice him into pieces._

_The hedgehog smirked and quickly took out a black leather whip with some sort of strange red energy around it from the belt he was wearing. He then lashed the whip at him, knocking him back down onto the floor making him drop his blades. While Espio struggled to get off the floor, Shadow walked up to him as he gripped the whip tighter. When he approached him, he looked down at the exhausted chameleon and formed and evil smirk. "You and I are going to have so much fun together these next couple of hours."_

_Espio panted as he tried to figure out what Shadow had meant. Before he could move anymore, he was suddenly beaten by the whip. He cried out in pain when he figured out that the red energy flowing through the whip was actually electricity._

"_That was for sneaking into my castle like the filthy rat you are!" He then raised his whip again._

_Rouge broke down into tears when she saw him about to hit him again. "Shadow, stop!"_

_He pretended like he didn't hear her and struck the whip down at him again, making a huge scar on his chest. "And that was for trying to cross me! Whoever stands in my way will always suffer severe punishment!"_

_Espio remained on the floor panting with exhaustion as the scars stung him all over his body._

_Shadow kneeled down towards the chameleon and made him face him, "You really thought you were going to kill me didn't you? Well guess what? You assumed everything wrong. I would kill you right here and now but there's too many questions I have to ask you and you will answer them. Understand me?"_

"_Fucking asshole...burn in Hell", he replied in a weak voice._

_He paused for a moment then sighed._

_With tears, Rouge watched Shadow punch Espio hard in the face. She placed her hands over her mouth and couldn't help but to cry more because of watching the way Shadow was treating Espio._

_The hedgehog stood from the floor and started to look around, "Ker!"_

_Within a couple of seconds, Ker had arrived in the room awaiting for Shadow's orders. "Yes, my king?"_

_Shadow pointed to the barely conscious chameleon who was laying on the floor in pain. "Ker, take this filth down to the dungeon immediately!"_

_Ker looked down at the chameleon and took his body off the floor, "Yes, sire."_

_Shadow looked over to the crying Rouge and grabbed her by her arm forcing her to follow them down to the dungeon, "Come on, Rouge." As she followed Ker, Shadow stopped in his tracks and spun around spotting a young black hedgehog hiding behind the staircase. Shadow never wanted Spike to leave his room and it angered him that he disobeyed him. "Spike!" He shouted in anger._

_The child jumped as he heard his father's angry voice call his name but he never moved._

_After Shadow knew that Spike would not come out the first time, he walked over to him and grabbed him by his arm in a tight grip. He then threw his body onto the floor in anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing down here! I told you to stay in your room! Why won't you listen to me!" He raised his whip about to strike it at the frightened child._

_The child's eyes were completely focused on the whip, "Fa-father, I...I..."_

_He then lashed the whip down onto the floor but it had never harmed Spike. It was just enough to scare him out of his wits. "That was just a warning. The next time, it will be you. Do you understand me?"_

_He gulped and made a small nod._

"_Go into your room and stay in there!"_

_While shaking in fear, he got off the floor and ran back upstairs._

**A/N: Shadow is so mean. R&R please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**BLOOD STAINED WORDS**

_**January 4, 2016**_

_**It's been two days since Espio's capture and whatever I do to him, I cannot make the bastard break. I don't understand. All the beatings I've been giving him each and every day and night doesn't seem to work. The bastard just doesn't want to give me any information about where the rest of The Underground Rebellion are hiding. Of course they would be hiding underground but where? I never knew this would be this frustrating. All it is, is the same thing over and over. I beat the living shit out of him and Rouge cries over it like she's lost her whole world. The only reason she's acting so sympathetic towards him is because she hasn't seen him in a long time and wants to talk to him again, but she doesn't need that filth. He's my enemy and I will not allow my own wife to be against me...Wait a minute! I think I just thought of an idea. Espio you will tell where the rebellion is hiding, but you won't be telling me...**_

_It was almost midnight and in the castle dungeon, Shadow continued to whip Espio's scarred body a couple more times before calling it quits for the rest of the night. The hedgehog panted in frustration, "Tell me! Where are they hiding?"_

_With his wrists and ankles shackled to the wall in his cell, he couldn't move his head to face him because he was in so much pain, "I...will never tell you", he said in a hoarse voice._

_Shadow clenched his whip tightly in his grip and lashed it at Espio once again._

_Ker stood beside Shadow and watched mindlessly as Espio shouted out in pain as the whip struck him. He then noticed how exhausted Shadow looked after trying to make him talk. "My king, would you like me to try?"_

"_No", he panted as he put the whip back in his belt pocket. He walked over to the suffering chameleon and made him face him. "He's useless if he doesn't want to say anything. So tomorrow morning, he will be executed."_

_Rouge was standing outside of the cell and heard every word Shadow had said about Espio being executed. Tears started to swell in her eyes. She knew that when Shadow meant that he would execute someone, he would kill them himself by literally eating their bodies until there is nothing left. He hasn't executed anyone in so long and she didn't want to see him perform it again especially on one of her beloved friends._

"_Hear that...Es? You're going to die in an execution. Pretty honorable huh?"_

_Espio formed a small smirk, "Depends on what you mean by your kind of execution."_

"_Heh, you'll see soon enough." He then turned his back and began to walk out of the cell with Ker._

_Rouge saw Shadow and Ker walk out of the cell and hoped that Shadow changed his mind about the execution. With tears she embraced his body, "Please, Shadow. Please tell me you're not going to execute Espio."_

_He took her body away from his and stroked his fingers through her hair, "I'm sorry my love, but it has to be done. I know he means a lot to you so you may talk to him for awhile."_

_She was still upset, but she was a little happy that she had the privilege to talk to him for a little while. She wiped some of her tears away, "Thank you, Shadow." She began to walk in the cell and when she got in there, she closed the door softly behind her so Shadow or no one else could hear their conversation. She saw Espio chained to the wall by his wrists and ankles and he was bleeding practically everywhere on his body. She gasped and placed her hands over her mouth in sadness as she walked over to him. "E-Espio..."_

_With blood running down his face, he looked up at her and tried to smile because he was happy to see her, "Rouge..."_

_As she stared at the injuries on his bodies, she found it hard to hold back her tears, until she just couldn't contain it anymore and rushed over to embrace his body in tears. "Oh God Espio, I'm so sorry", she sobbed softly._

_He looked down at her and stared at her crying on his body. He had wished he could move his arms to hug and hold her. "No", he whispered. "Don't be."_

"_But..." She sniffed. "...But it's all my fault. I...I couldn't stand up to Shadow to save you..."_

_He made a small nod, "It's okay. You were just scared that's all."_

_She looked up at him in tears, "I knew I wouldn't be much use to anyone. I'm nothing but a coward when I'm in his presence. I let him take advantage of me. Pushing me around...raping me...hitting me...I'm nothing but his fucking punching bag!"_

_He hushed her because of the increasing tone in her voice, "Quiet down. He may hear you."_

_She looked down at the dirty floor she was kneeling on, "You're right."_

"_Rouge", he called. "Look at me."_

_The bat looked back up at the chameleon who tried to remain strong in his heart._

"_Remember when we first met back up with each other?"_

_She made a small nod._

"_That was after when Shadow forced you to marry him and you wanted to kill yourself because you couldn't stand to be around him anymore and I stopped you because I wanted to be with you again. There's a reason why you're still alive. You're doing this for me, the rebellion, all of Mobius. You're very important to me and I would hate to lose you to Shadow. You don't deserve to be with a monster like him...That is why I must die tomorrow. To end our suffering..."_

"_No", she sobbed softly as she shook her head._

"_Rouge, you know where the rebellion is hiding don't you?"_

_She made a weak nod, "Of course. In the Northeast district of the city. In the sewers."_

"_Right and remember we constantly move around every now and then because of the madness going on above us, but by the time you get there, they all should be there waiting for you."_

_She clenched Espio's jacket and began to sob more, "Oh Espio, I want to stop the execution..."_

"_No...If you try to stop Shadow, he'll think you're going against him and he'll kill you too."_

"_I don't care!"_

_He whispered in her ear, "Rouge, think about the rebellion! They'll need you now more than ever because of my absence. Besides you're the one who knows all of the castle's defenses. You can bring victory upon the Mobians...You can win back their freedom."_

"_Espio..."_

"_Please, Rouge...for the sake of Mobius."_

_She remained silent for a few seconds until she finally responded to him again. "Okay Espio, I won't let you down. Mobius will be saved."_

_He formed a small smile, "Way to go, bat girl."_

_She embraced his body tighter, "I'll miss you so much, Espio."_

_He looked down at her hugging him and couldn't help but to smile even more despite his injuries. "Listen Rouge", he said softly. "Once you get there, they'll all be expecting a password to see if it's really you so here's the password..."_

_As they remained almost silent for a moment, Rouge had gotten the password in her mind and made a nod, "Okay I got it."_

"_Good...I'm counting on you."_

_She nodded, "I won't let you down." She decided to hug him one last time before leaving._

_While Rouge was hugging Espio, Shadow was standing outside the cell in a corner with a look full of anger. 'Treacherous bitch!' He thought. 'So there is more than one traitor...'_


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

**THE SWEET SMELL OF DEATH AND BETRAYAL**

_**January 5, 2016**_

_**Today is the day that I put my old friend, Espio to death. I've never been so proud of myself. I knew the bastard wouldn't want to tell me where The Underground Rebellion were hiding. No matter how many times I beat him senseless. He would obviously die than to tell me, but I knew he would open up to one person. Rouge loved me but I had to admit to myself that she was never in love with me. After hearing Rouge and Espio talk about where The Underground Rebellion was hiding last night, I had never felt so betrayed...so heartbroken. There's only one way to release my anger and sadness from this situation and I doubt if I'll ever see my beloved wife ever again...**_

_Later that morning, Spike was in his room looking out of his window, staring at the dark gray sky. He knew that his father wasn't such a great leader and that was probably the reason why he didn't want him to wander around the castle. He thought his father didn't want him to look away from him as something demonic and full of evil. Well he had figured it all out on his own and he didn't like it. He even heard something about an execution last night when his father walked past his room. He was probably talking to Ker if he mentioned something like that. Spike never knew what kind of execution Shadow performed and he was curious to know just how he handled things._

_Meanwhile, Shadow, Rouge, and Ker were on their way towards the dungeon where Espio was held._

_Rouge grew curious about the silence that filled the underground dungeon. Noticing Shadow's quietness, she felt very uneasy about it. "M-my king?" She called in a hesitant voice. "I was just wondering if something was wrong."_

_The ebony hedgehog stopped in his tracks but never faced her, "...No nothing's wrong."_

_She didn't believe it. She knew he had found out something and he was obviously upset by it._

"_Come and let's get this execution over with." When he continued to walk to Espio's cell, Rouge slowly followed behind him._

_When they got to Espio's cell, they still saw the chameleon chained to the wall looking tired and beat up. It was like he had no more will to live on._

_Just looking at him in that kind of position made Rouge want to break down and cry. "Oh, Espio..." She whispered softly. She then watched as Ker took the keys and unlocked the cell lock. She looked over to Shadow and he still remained silent. She just couldn't help but to wonder what was going on in his mind._

_Once Ker opened the cell door, Shadow confronted the weakened chameleon, formed a smirk, and raised his hand towards him. "I'm really going to miss you, Es."_

"_Oh really?" He replied in a hoarse voice. "I guess that makes both of us."_

_Little did they all know, Spike was hiding behind a corner peeking his head out to see what was going on._

_Tears swelled in Rouge's eyes when she saw him raise his hand towards him. 'No...' She looked over to Espio and saw him form a slight smile towards her. She didn't understand what he was so happy about at first but then she had understood. She knew he was happy because he would finally be with Tonya._

"_Goodbye forever, Espio." Once he clenched his fist, a scream full of agony was heard._

_Rouge couldn't take her eyes away when she saw Espio suddenly start coughing badly. Her eyes widened when she saw him cough up a huge amount of blood until he started to vomit his insides out. She figured he was using his telekinesis power to kill him which was a pretty gruesome thing since he could kill any living thing in any twisted way he could think of. When she saw his heart slip out of his mouth, she quickly turned away and started to sob. 'Please stop!' She shouted in her mind. 'Please stop!'_

_Spike saw some of the horrific sight and instantly he felt sick to his stomach._

_When Shadow realized that Espio had died, he stared at his body and licked his lips._

_Rouge knew what was going to happen next and she wished that he wouldn't do such a thing to his corpse. "Don't do it", she whispered softly._

_Spike gathered his courage to look back again and saw his father kneeling down at the disfigured corpse and pick up some of the insides Espio had threw up while he was dying. His eyes widened as he got traumatized by the situation. 'What's he doing?' He wondered. He then saw him take his insides and place them in his mouth. He couldn't believe it. He was actually eating the remains of the corpse._

_Rouge still had her back turned because she knew what he doing to Espio's body. She didn't want to imagine it but she couldn't help but to. She could picture him tearing off his arms and eat them like he hasn't ate for days and she could see him swallowing his lifeless heart whole with the fresh blood dripping from his mouth. She wanted to run and scream, but she knew that wouldn't make the situation any better. She was startled when Shadow had placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke to her._

"_I know you're sad that I killed our once friend, but don't worry. You'll get the fuck over it."_

_She slowly turned her head and saw the spot where Espio's body once was and found it so hard to believe that the remains of her dear friend was inside of him. She faced him with tears still running down her face. "...Get over it? Sha-Shadow, what you just did...I'll never get over it. You-you're a killer...a murderer...You're a murderer!" She was then suddenly slapped hard in the face, making her turn away from him._

"_Bitch! Don't ever speak that way towards me! If I'm such a bad person, why don't you include that in your little reports and send it to your friends?"_

'_Reports?' She thought. 'What could he mean?...Oh God!' She slowly faced him again with her eyes fixed on his with anger. "You...you know don't you?"_

_He made a small nod. "Thanks to you, bat girl. I knew you'd open up to him. While you talked to him, I listened and got everything."_

_She felt stupid for letting him know so easily about what her and The Underground Rebellion were up to. She was now afraid of suffering the same fate as Espio. "...So let me guess? You want my heart too?"_

"_Rouge, I am angered and saddened that my own wife betrayed me."_

"_Well Shadow, life sucks. You forced me to marry you. I was just another pathetic bitch you wanted to kick around in your spare time. It's true I loved you once but that was before you went to Dark. Now...I never want to love or know you again! You're nothing but a monster now! A heartless monster!" She then paused when she heard a loud snarl come from Shadow. Her eyes widened in panic as she saw tentacles appear from his back._

"_Fool!" He clenched his fists tightly as his fangs grew longer and claws appeared from his fingertips. "I will tear you apart from the inside out!"_

_Rouge jumped back to keep her distance away from Shadow._

_Spike's eyes were filled with tears when he knew a deadly fight between his parents would take place._

_She wanted to try to attempt to fight him but she has seen plenty of Mobians attempt that and all that tried to kill Shadow, ended up failing. She started to panic because she didn't know what to do. She looked over to Ker who was just mindlessly observing the situation. She thought that maybe if she broke Shadow's control over him, he could help her defeat Shadow once and for all. Ker was being controlled by the collar he wore around his neck. If she maybe got through to him, he could take the collar off. Before she could try to get his attention, one of Shadow's tentacles wrapped around her wrist. She tried to pull away but it was no use. She looked over to Ker, "Ker!" _

_The young demon gave her no response._

"_Ker!" She called again. "You can break out of Shadow's control! I know you can!"_

_The demon's eyes shifted over to her and saw her about to die in the hands of Shadow. As he studied the situation, he thought of absolutely nothing to help her._

_Rouge soon realized her pleas for help were not enough to bring Ker to his senses. She was then thrown onto the floor with Shadow's body on hers._

"_Ker, is under my control now. Nothing can save him or you."_

_When she stared at his fangs, she knew her time was near, but she didn't want to die so easy. She then pulled out a small knife from the garter that was strapped to her thigh and stabbed it into Shadow's arm. It wasn't enough to kill him, but just enough to get him off of her._

_Shadow stood away from her and removed the bloody knife from his flesh. He looked back at her with an evil smile, "Is that all you can do?" He walked back over to her, grabbed her by her arm, and pushed her towards the brick wall. "I have to admit, you're putting up quite a fight...I like that."_

_Her heart raced when she felt him pin her to the wall. She had a feeling she wouldn't die yet. She figured he wanted to play around with her a bit. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt him lift her dress and stroke his fingers near her opening._

_Spike didn't know how much longer he could watch those two fight. He was frightened what Shadow would do to her. He stood there in panic when he heard his mother cry out in pain as his father harshly shoved his fingers into her opening. He began to sob and sniff at his mother's pain. He could no longer bring himself to watch the horrible situation anymore. He then came from behind the corner of where he was hiding and rushed to his parents in tears. "Stop it! Stop it now!" He cried._

_Shadow turned to his crying son with annoyance, "Spike, what are you doing down in the dungeon?"_

_The young hedgehog tried to wipe some of his tears when he tried to speak. "That doesn't matter", he sniffed. "Wha-what are you doing to mom?"_

_Shadow looked over to the weak white bat and back to his son again. "Spike, your mother betrayed us."_

_His eyes widened, "What do you mean?"_

"_She's working with them, Spike. She's part of The Underground Rebellion."_

_Spike always knew that his father didn't deserve to be treating Mobians horribly so he was also on the rebellion's side, but he sadly could not side with his mother or else he would suffer the same consequences as her._

_Rouge slowly turned to her son and tried to form a small smile to show how much she had cared for him. He was the only one in the castle that she had loved to be around. "I...love you, Spike", she said in a hoarse voice._

_Tears once again began to form in his eyes, "Mom", he whispered softly._

_Shadow focused his attention back on Rouge, "Now Spike, watch how people betray us die."_

_He clenched his fists and watched Shadow raise his claws and clawed through her neck until her head fell from her body and dropped to the floor. He felt incredibly sick of the whole situation. Not only that, he was angered at his father. He wanted to kill him so much after what he had done to his mother._

_Shadow dropped the headless corpse beside the head on the floor and turned to his crying son. He walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him. "This is what your destiny will be, Spike. You have to be ruthless despite who or what you have to destroy to bring order to this world."_

_Spike didn't listen to his words because his eyes were focused on his mother's decapitated body. He then saw Shadow walked towards the body, bend down, and started to use his claws to feel around inside of Rouge's chest. His eyes widened and placed his hands over his mouth when he saw him take out Rouge's inactive bloody heart and bit into it with his fangs. He felt even more sick to his stomach when he saw blood squirt from the heart as he bit down into it._

_When Shadow got finished eating the heart, he looked at the remains of her body and licked his lips in hunger. Before he began to eat the rest of her body, he faced Spike who was on his knees with his head down on the floor trying to keep himself from throwing up. He formed a slight smile, "Don't worry, son. This madness will be over soon enough."_

_Spike's nails clawed the floor as he slowly looked up at his father when he had his back turned while he began to eat away the remains of Rouge's body. 'Father...I...I want to kill you!'_

**A/N: Man Shad is horrible. Well the last bit of the journal is coming up next. R&R please!**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

**THE BLOODY MASSACRE**

Back at the Chaotix, Chloe turned to the last page of the diary and looked up at the group, noticing they were in deep suspense. "This...this is the last page..."

Vector made a small nod, "Go on, Chloe. Read it."

She made a small nod as well and gathered her courage to look back at the last page of Shadow's entry. She began to read once more.

_**January 6, 2016**_

_**Well I'm a little tired from all the action I've been through yesterday. I haven't seen Spike so paralyzed before. I do hope he's all right. Now he's all I have left since I killed Rouge along with Espio, but none of this is a bad thing. Now I can finally put an end to The Underground Rebellion since I now know where they are. The Black Army, the Almas, Ker, and I are going to infiltrate their base and destroy everything we lay our hands on. This is going to be so much fun. I can barely contain myself with all this excitement. After this day, I can now see a perfect future for me and Spike...**_

_Spike took the small black diary he was reading and closed it shut. While he stood in his father's bedroom, he could feel nothing but evil but it never bothered him that he could get in trouble for sneaking into his father's room. Besides, his father and his servants had already left to find The Underground Rebellion's base. The child looked over at his father's bed and stared at the mattress. Under the mattress was where he found his father's diary. Tears swelled in his eyes as he held the diary close to him. He had wished he was strong enough to defeat his father and take over the throne as the new king and make new changes and for the better, but it was only a dream. A mere fantasy full of hope. He wanted to help warn the rebellion that his father was coming, but he could do nothing. Tears fell from his face, "Please...please let something good happen", he murmured._

_Back in the sewers, Magnum stood in small corner and was full of worry about Espio not returning from the mission._

_While she was polishing her machine gun, Rika noticed Magnum's worry and got concerned herself. "What's wrong, Mag?"_

_The bird slowly looked over to her and sighed sadly, "It's Espio. He...hasn't come back yet. He should've been back by now."_

_She sadly looked away from him and back at her gun. She didn't want to believe that Espio had failed in his mission, but at the time she couldn't help but to think that Espio would never return to them. She wanted to say something to make him feel better, but she never wanted to lie to anyone. "Don't worry about it. He'll be back", she said as she stared at her gun with sadness._

_Yamato confronted the group, knowing that they were all worried about Espio. He even thought that Espio was dead himself, but he didn't dare speak of anything about it to shatter anyone's hopes. He gathered their attention by holding up a strange brown elastic band. "Hey guys, have a look at this."_

_Everyone stared at the weird object. It looked like a huge rubber band with all kinds of buttons on it._

"_What is that thing, Yamato?" Shana asked._

_The dog started to explain, "This is my newest invention called the time band."_

"_Time...band?" Laura repeated blankly._

_Yamato nodded, "That's right. If things doesn't go as planned like we wanted, I was thinking we could go back in time and stop this horrible future from ever happening."_

_Everyone was stunned but amazed by Yamato's idea._

_Rika smirked, "I like that idea a lot. I could tell you've done a load of planning lately."_

_Laura made a wide smile, "Yeah! Great idea, Yamato!" She looked over to Magnum, "What do you think, Magnum?"_

_Magnum stared at the band Yamato was holding and made a small nod, "I say we do it."_

_Rika reloaded her machine gun and clenched her fists in excitement, "All right! Let's change the future!"_

_Before anyone could do anything, they were interrupted when a figure appeared from the entrance and fell to his knees on the ground. They all studied the stranger. He was wearing a tattered brown cloak with a hood covering his face and he seemed so weak._

"_Please...please help me", the stranger said in a hoarse voice._

_Shana just knew he was a weak Mobian who needed serious help. She ran and kneeled down at him, trying to help him to his feet. "Oh you poor man. Let us help you", she said in a soft voice._

"_...I was...attacked by King Shadow...and now..."_

"_Yes?" She whispered._

_As he looked up at her, his hood slipped off of his head and the room was filled with gasps._

_Shana couldn't help but to gasp as well when she saw that the stranger's face was the face of King Shadow himself. _

"_Surprise! Surprise!"_

"_King Shadow!" Laura shouted in fear._

'_Damn it!' Rika thought. 'How did King Shadow find us?'_

_Before Shana could back away, his hand grabbed her neck in a tight grip. As his grip tightened, she began to desperately gasp for air._

_As soon as Shadow got to his feet, Ker came along with some of the robots and Almas. Shadow's tattered clothing that he was wearing had faded when it was replaced with his red cape, black skin tight pants, a brown belt, and a golden crown on his head. He scanned around the area and saw several Mobians shaking in fear because of his presence. He rose an eyebrow, "So...this is where all of my fugitives have gone."_

_Rika pointed her machine gun at him, "Don't touch these innocent Mobians!"_

_The hedgehog smirked, "Are you sure it's a good idea to point that gun at your friend?" He then dragged Shana to stand in front of him as a shield._

_Rika had no choice but to lower her weapon because she didn't want to hurt Shana._

_Shana didn't know how much longer she could take him suffocating her._

_Magnum gritted his teeth as he ran up to Shadow, about to punch him with his clenched fists. "Let her go!"_

_The hedgehog shrugged, "Okay." He then threw her body towards him, causing them to fly across the room. He then pointed towards the group. "Kill them all!"_

_Just as he said, The Black Army and Almas charged towards the Mobians and The Underground Rebellion as Ker stood by Shadow's side and watched in amusement._

_An Almas charged at Yamato and the time band that he was holding slipped out of his hand and landed beside Ker's feet._

_Ker looked down and found the time band. He held it in his hands and studied it, trying to figure out what it was. When he couldn't find out what it was, he decided to give it to Shadow. "Your highness?"_

_Shadow's eyes looked over to him, "What is it?"_

_The demon then placed the time band in Shadow's hand hoping he could figure out what it was. "What is this device?"_

_It didn't take him long to figure out what the device was. "I've heard of these things before. They said it would take years to make these."_

"_What is it?"_

"_A time band."_

"_A...time band?" Ker repeated blankly._

_They were then interrupted when they heard several loud gunshots. They looked over and saw some of the robots laying on the ground with large gapping holes in their bodies. They looked up and saw Magnum panting heavily while holding up a magnum with smoking appearing from the barrel with Shana behind him acting like she would go into a state of panic any minute now._

_The rabbit was already shaken up as she looked around the room and saw Rika trying to fight off the Almas but there were too many of them and she watched in horror as the demons bit into her flesh and started to rip off different parts of her body. 'Rika...' _

_As Yamato tried to fight off most of the Almas, he was suddenly shot through the head with a laser gun a robot had._

_Shadow watched in amusement as the rebellion fell one by one and watched his army kill off the rest of the Mobians._

"_Shadow!" _

_The hedgehog looked over and saw Magnum who gave him a glare full of hatred and threw his gun down onto the floor while startling Shana as well._

"_I don't need to this gun to kill lowdown scum like you!"_

_The ebony hedgehog smirked, "Are you sure? The gun may keep you alive for a few more seconds."_

_All the bird did was clench his fists in anger until Shana placed her hand on one of his shaking fists. He knew she was trying to get his attention so with anger still flowing in his body, he looked over to her._

"_Magnum, we can't win this battle with just anger."_

"_...But...but this bastard! He...he killed my parents...he left me there to die on the streets without a family..."_

_She could feel him getting more and more upset by the second while he stared in the hedgehog's dark yet calm eyes. "Magnum, I know you've had a tough childhood, but I've been there too. We all have...with him. That's why we formed this rebellion. Together, we are a family. We love you, Magnum. We all do."_

_Suddenly, his anger had eased and his voice had became calm. "You...you really mean that Shana?"_

_She formed a small smile and held his hand, "Of course I do."_

_They then heard a sinister laugh coming from Shadow. They turned to the laughing hedgehog with disgust._

"_You all...are so pathetic", he chuckled._

"_Shadow", he growled softly._

"_Let's skip the love shit and go straight to the killing shall we?"_

_Magnum gasped as he saw Shadow's red eyes glowing. 'What's he doing?' He thought. He was then sent into panic when he heard Shana fall to her knees and started to cough really badly. He turned to her and kneeled down towards her, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. "Shana! What's wrong?"_

_When she took her hands away from her mouth, a great amount of blood was all over her hands. Her eyes widened at the sight, "What...what's happening...to me?" She asked to herself softly._

_Magnum knew there was no way, she could be suffering from a sudden illness until he soon figured out that Shadow was looking towards her while smirking. His eyes widened in panic, 'It's Shadow! He's using his telekinesis power on Shana to kill her!'_

_The hedgehog formed an evil smile, "Judging by the look on your face, you figured out that I'm using the same method I used to kill Espio."_

_His heart raced in panic more, 'He used the same thing for Espio?...I knew it. He killed Espio...and Rouge. I can't and won't let that happen to Shana as well.' He stood from the floor and charged towards Shadow with his fist clenched. As soon as he was about to hit him, Ker grabbed his wrist and sent him flying towards a wall. By the time he had the strength to get back up, it was too late it seemed when he saw Shana laying on the floor with her blood dripping from her mouth._

_Tears started to swell in his eyes as he ran over to her in worry. "Shana!" He kneeled down to her and picked her barely conscious body off the ground. He held her in his arms with tears falling from his face, "Shana..." he whimpered._

_With the little bit of strength she had, she raised her hand and softly touched his cheek with a slight smile on her face. "Magnum...", she whispered. "...I...love..." Her hand then dropped from his cheek and onto the floor with her eyes still halfway open._

"_Shana?" He called while sobbing. "Shana!" He then realized she was dead and continued to sob on her lifeless body. "Shana..."_

_Shadow once again began to laugh evilly, "I killed her by squeezing her heart until she couldn't take it anymore. She's finished."_

_Magnum looked around the bloody room and saw all of his comrades and Mobians being eaten away by the Almas. 'They're gone', he thought. "They're all dead", he murmured._

_Shadow heard what he had said and formed an evil smirk, "Don't feel so alone, boy. There's still one I haven't killed yet."_

_He quickly looked over to them and saw a small pink fox child struggling in Ker's grip. He gasped, "Laura!"_

"_Let me go!" She shouted. "Let me go!"_

_Shadow then took Laura from Ker's possession and placed one of his claws near her neck. "My don't you look delicious."_

"_Don't touch her!" Magnum warned._

_Shadow formed an evil smile, "Why not? Children her age taste so much...sweeter." He lured his mouth towards her neck and parted his fangs, ready to bite into her._

_When he heard Laura's scream, he couldn't watch her being killed in front of his eyes. "Stop it! Just please stop! I'll do anything! Anything!"_

_Instead of biting her, he licked her neck softly and turned to the crying bird. "Anything?"_

_He hesitated to repeat himself, "...Yes", he wept. "Anything..."_

_He took out the time band and held it up at the bird, "Tell me something. You were going to use this to travel back into the past to try to stop me from becoming king weren't you?"_

_Magnum was surprised that Shadow had figured their plan out so quickly. They never thought just by looking at it would give their whole plan away. He answered hesitantly, "Ye-yes."_

_He smirked, "Wow, my theory was right, but we can't let that happen can we? This future is perfect and it will stay that way."_

_Magnum began to claw his nails into the floor with uprising anger, "You...you're a monster."_

"_There's no hope for you now. You lost everything. Your family...friends. It's over boy. Give up."_

"_I...will never...give up to a tyrant like you!" He then stood from the floor and charged at him with his fist clenched, but before he could hit him, he felt a pain like something had been pierced through his body. He looked and saw a black tentacle being jabbed through his body. Once he saw it, he screamed in pain as his blood dripped on the floor._

_Shadow pulled his body to his and whispered in his ear, "Just to make this clear, whoever messes with the best, dies like all the rest." He then used his tentacle and dropped his lifeless body on the floor._

_Laura stared in horror at his bloody wound and began to sob. "Magnum, no!"_

_While she sobbed, Shadow turned to Ker. "Our work is done here. Let's get back to the castle." He looked down at the sobbing little girl and licked his lips, "And take this brat as well. I think I deserve a little snack for my hard work."_

_Her eyes widened as she was being picked up by Ker and then started screaming while she was being led out of the room._

_Later that night at the castle, Shadow was in Spike's room telling him about how he and his army killed the rebellion and told him about how they were planning to get rid of him as being king in the first place._

_Spike was laying in his bed secretly being saddened about how The Underground Rebellion had fallen to his father. "I...I'm happy for you father."_

_The dark hedgehog smiled and stroked through his son's quills as he sat on the bed beside him. "I knew you would. Now when you get older, you won't have to worry about any intentional threats such as them. The Mobians of this world know their place and will stay there."_

_He made a small nod._

_He then hugged Spike, "Well, goodnight, my prince. I will see you in the morning."_

_With disgust building inside of him, he hugged his father back. "...Goodnight, father."_

_After when his father left the room and shut the door behind him, Spike looked at the time band that he was holding in his hand that he had just taken from his father's belt pocket and took out the diary that he had taken from his father's room. "I have to stop this. I must stop this. I must prevent my father from ever becoming king of Mobius."_

**A/N: Well that's it for the journal. Now to get back to the present time. R&R please!**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

**THE SEARCH**

Everyone stood silent in the main lobby at the Chaotix, all having their heads down on the floor in shock and sadness.

Tonya placed her hand over her mouth in disgust especially after hearing the part when Shadow had shot them all to death. "I can't believe this. None of this."

Chloe shut the black diary shut and held it tightly in her hands. "Believe it. This is the truth about what will happen if we don't find Shadow and talk some sense into him. If we don't stop him...then the entire world will be put through Hell itself."

They were then all startled when they heard glass shattering all over the floor. They turned and saw a furious Espio with his fist in the mirror that was hanging on the wall.

"Bullshit", the chameleon murmured. "That book is nothing but a load of bullshit!"

"Espio", Rouge whispered in worry.

"There's no fucking way that the man we read about is Shadow! I know Shadow and he would never betray us like that!"

"But, Espio", Midnight began. "Shadow willingly went to Dark. Think! If he did that, then without a doubt he'll..."

"Shut up! I refuse to believe anything that book said!" Tears began to appear in his eyes, "Shadow..." He said as his voice became hoarse. "...wouldn't do this to us." He then fell to his knees and began to hit his fists onto the floor in sadness. "It's a lie", he sobbed. "It-It's a damn lie!"

Tonya slowly walked over to the crying chameleon, kneeled down beside him, and embraced him. "Don't worry, Espio. We won't let this happen." She turned to the stunned green crocodile, "Right, Vector?"

The crocodile made a small nod, "Right."

Charmy used his wings and flew around the group, "Well what are we sitting around and moping about it for? Let's save Captain Shadow!"

Everyone then made a small nod in agreement.

"All right! To the X-jet!" The bee shouted in excitement.

Once everyone was gathered in the garage, they were ready to get on the plane and head for Dark's ice base, but there was one small problem. Everyone gazed at the damaged X-jet with their mouths hung open.

Each wing was ripped off, the propeller was barely on, and there were holes where some kind of missiles had damaged it.

Everyone's eyes full of anger were fixed on the bee.

A sweat drop appeared on the back of the nervous bee's head, "Uh, looks like the X-jet hasn't recovered from that sky battle it went through two weeks ago."

Vector grabbed the bee by his shoulders and made him face him. "Gee Charms, you think?" He heavily sighed, "What are we gonna do now?"

"I'm thinking it's time for us to get out our walking shoes", Charmy said while adding a little humor to the situation.

"I'm thinking, you don't want to know what I'm thinking, Charms", Vector said while slowly raising his fist at his head.

The bee gulped, "I'm thinking you're right."

"Vector!" Ker shouted. "What are we gonna do?"

The crocodile sighed, "Damn! I guess we'll have to walk."

"What!" Tonya shouted. "You expect us to walk all the way to Dark's ice base?"

Ker formed a small smile towards the cat, "Don't be so discouraged, Tonya. It's only gonna take a few hours. Oh wait we're going to the Arctic aren't we? Never mind, that's gonna take a few days, not hours."

"Vector!" She moaned.

Vector was getting annoyed over Tonya's complaining, "Tonya, stop whining! If we start now, we'll get there in no time."

Charmy formed a nervous smile towards Tonya, "The boss is right, Tonya. Don't worry!"

She crossed her arms in annoyance, 'I hate this so much.'

Meanwhile in Dark's ice base, Shadow stared out of his bedroom window after he just got there not too long ago. He crossed his arms and sighed as he watched the light snow fall from the sky. 'Please', he thought. 'Please don't come after me you guys.'

Later, the Chaotix were making their way out of Tech City and heading towards Green Forest. Chloe decided to stay behind in case anything got out of hand, taking on an adventure like that wasn't really Kassidy's style, and Midnight stayed with them to protect them.

Tonya began to drag her feet along until she couldn't take it anymore. She fell to her knees and sighed. "Vector, my feet hurt!"

With annoyance, Vector turned to her, "What? You gotta be kidding me, Ton! We just started walking!"

"It's been a long walk", she said in an exhausted voice.

"Tonya, we didn't even make it out of the city yet!" Vector shouted. "Now get off your ass and on your feet! You can take a cat nap later!"

Espio confronted the cat and began to pick her body off of the ground.

With a deep blush on her face, she stared at the chameleon in annoyance, "E-Espio?"

"Don't mind that heartless croc, my love. If you need some assistance, you know you could've always asked me. I'll carry you in my arms the whole way there if I have to."

With an anger mark on her forehead, she clenched her fist, and punched him hard in the face. As she got back on the ground, she sighed heavily. "You know I think I can manage now."

Rouge couldn't help but to giggle at the two. It was never a dull moment when Espio tried acting nice towards Tonya.

Vector turned to the group with impatience, "Come on guys, stop screwing around. We have a long journey ahead of us." Before he could move forward, he saw a brown deformed creature on four legs glaring at the group. He slowly turned his head to the group, "Uh, guys? We have company."

Ker stood in a fighting stance, "An Almas!"

Tonya turned and saw another Almas coming towards them, "Oh no! Another one!"

Charmy looked around them and noticed that they were quickly surrounded, "There's a lot of them!"

Before anyone could take out their weapons, one of the Almas had jumped up with its claws positioned at Tonya.

The cat was frozen and couldn't move in time.

"Tonya!" Ker shouted in worry.

She closed her eyes tightly and awaited for its claws to be sunk into her flesh, until the Almas fell back down on the ground with many red quills in its body.

Tonya placed her hand on her heaving chest, trying to catch her breath while observing the sharp red quills. "What? Red quills?"

Charmy pointed on top of a building, "Look!"

Everyone then had their attention on the red porcupine who was on top of the building giving them all a cold look.

**A/N: Hm, who is this mysterious stranger? Guess we'll have to find out in the next chap! R&R please!**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

**COMRADE**

Everyone's eyes were fixed onto the red porcupine that was standing on the roof of the building with him giving them an uncaring look.

Vector's mouth hung open in surprise, "Hey isn't that..."

"It's Appex", Rouge pointed out.

'Appex?' Espio thought. 'Why is he here?'

Then they all watched as the porcupine ran down the side of the building in a fast pace with his quills standing erect from his body. He was coming in their direction, so they had no idea if he was going to attack them or the Almas.

Appex then swung his arm in the direction of the Almas that was near the group and knocked the demons back on the ground with his sharp quills. He jumped off the building and landed in front of the group with the same frown that he has always had on his face. "You morons just gonna stand there or are you going to help me fight these things?"

Surprised that Appex wanted to fight by their side, they all nervously agreed to work together to kill the Almas.

Vector cracked his knuckles as he watched an Almas slowly walk over to him. "Come get some!"

The demon charged towards the crocodile, but it was stopped when Vector punched it directly in the face. It fell back down onto the ground and before it could get back up, Vector stabbed the sharp end of a metal pipe he found multiple times into its neck until its head was separated from its body.

Charmy took out both of his daggers and pointed them at the Almas that was coming after him with some kind of purple liquid seeping out of its mouth. The bee smirked, "Time to die...and very painfully at that!"

The demon let out a loud screech and parted its claws, about to slash him until Charmy knocked its hand away with the end of one of his daggers.

Without hesitation, he took the other dagger and stabbed the demon in its neck many times while slowly watching its head fall off.

Espio positioned his giant shuriken at an Almas and threw the bladed weapon at its neck, cutting its head clear off with ease. "Piece of cake."

Appex fought on with the Almas with his quills, but he noticed that he couldn't kill a single one and didn't know why. He looked back at the Almas laying on the ground, but soon got back up. Before he could knock them back again, he was suddenly hit in the arm with the purple liquid an Almas had shot out of its mouth. The pain in his arm was so searing, he couldn't stand any longer and fell to his knees. It felt like he was just burned by acid. Before he could get back on his feet to fight the Almas that was about to finish him off, Rouge and Tonya stood in front of him and started to fight the Almas off.

With Rouge's powerful kicks and Tonya's fan blades, the Almas were taken down with ease.

Rouge turned her head to Appex before finishing off the last Almas. "Here's a little tip. Try decapitating their heads or blowing their bodies to pieces for a decent kill. Okay?"

He held his wounded arm tighter as he looked away from her in annoyance. "You gonna lecture me, bat girl or are you gonna finish these freaks off?"

The bat sighed because of Appex's cold attitude and carried on with killing the last Almas. She looked over to Tonya, "Tonya, help me out!"

The cat slung some of the blood off of her blade and smiled, "I got your back, bat girl!"

Rouge then ran up to the Almas and kicked it up in mid air with her iron boots. "Got this, Ton?"

"Always!" Tonya jumped up into the air and used her fan blades to cut off the demon's head in one blow.

Everyone watched in relief as the Almas' blood scattered in the air and landed all over the sidewalk.

"All right!" Ker shouted. "We killed them all!"

Rouge slowly walked over to Appex who was still on the ground, holding his arm. She held her hand out to him to help him.

Appex stared at her hand blankly, then took his hand to hit hers away from him.

She flinched as he smacked her hand away.

"I don't need your help so back the fuck off!" He spat.

Espio saw the way how Appex was treating Rouge so he decided to get in on the situation. He stood in front of Rouge, acting as though he was trying to protect her. "Hey! She was offering to help you! Don't bitch because this is the first time someone's been trying to help you out!"

The porcupine found it difficult to get off the ground, but he eventually got to his feet. Once he did, he gave Espio a cold look. "...Idiot."

Espio couldn't contain himself anymore from wanting to punch the porcupine. He slowly clenched his fists tightly, "What! Okay needles, we don't need to take this shit from you right now! If you didn't notice, we're on a mission and we don't need stuck up bastards like you slowing us down! Got it?"

The porcupine calmly crossed his arms, "I know. You're looking for Shadow am I right?"

Rouge gasped in surprise and wondered how he knew about Shadow's disappearance. "...You know about Shadow missing?"

The porcupine shrugged, "Practically everyone knows about it. It's nothing new."

"So...", Vector began. "...Why are you here breathing down our necks?"

Appex's eyes traveled down onto the ground, "I want to come with you...to find Shadow."

Everyone was full of silence and curiosity. They wondered why. Why would Appex come along to find Shadow? Did he actually care about him?

Appex looked back up at the group and saw the expressions on their faces. "Don't get any ideas. I just want to put an end to that horrible future that diary said."

"You read the diary?" Charmy asked.

"Read it? Yes because I was the first one who found it." Appex began to explain, "I was just in Azul Park laying in the grass looking at the blue sky. It was a nice day, until a stranger walked up to me. I couldn't tell who he was at first because he was wearing a brown cloak and some kind of brown arm band. He came up to me and gave me the diary. He somehow knew that I knew you guys and told me to give it to you. I got suspicious of this guy and forced him to take off his hood and once he turned to me he looked exactly like Shadow. Before I could ask any questions, he ran off."

Rouge's eyes widened, "That man you met...it was Spike wasn't it?"

The porcupine made a small nod, "That was what I was thinking." He looked over to Vector, "I threw the diary in Chloe's yard and had hoped you guys had got it."

Vector nodded, "Yeah and glad too. Thanks, Appex."

"You can thank me by letting me join you."

Vector wasn't sure of trusting Appex completely yet, "How can we trust you?"

The porcupine sighed, "Look, I'm the only one involved in this situation. The rest of the Street Punks aren't involved in this. No strings attached. I swear."

Everyone looked over to Vector while he was deciding on to let Appex join them on their search.

The crocodile sighed, "Fine, but I'm watching you...Street Punk."

He turned away from Vector with his arms crossed. 'I'd watch me too, old man.'


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

**FAMILY DINNER**

Later that night at Dark's ice base, it was an awkward silence as Shadow was sitting at one end of the long dining room table and Dark was on the other end.

Shadow was dressed in a black suit with a red tie. He looked down at the thick red liquid that was in the white glass bowl that was setting in front of him along with a glass of red wine. He just stared at the red liquid blankly.

Dark placed his head on his hand as he slowly got bored watching him. "Well, Shadow? Aren't you hungry?"

The ebony hedgehog continued to stare into his bowl. "I don't like tomato soup."

"You don't? I thought all demons loved tomato soup."

He pushed the bowl away from him, "Not me."

"Then how about the main course?" A sly and mysterious voice had said.

Shadow looked over to a huge dish with a top over it and saw a small black snake with piercing red eyes slithering across the table. 'The snake serpent', he thought.

Dark smirked towards the snake, "You ill mannered serpent. Get off of that table."

The snake faced his master with his tongue slipping in and out of his mouth, "But my lord, don't you think I should serve our prince of darkness his favorite meal?"

The hedgehog looked down at the table, "I told you even before we started having dinner, I wasn't hungry."

"Nonsense", Dark said. "We have to start our training soon and we can't do that if you're not on a full stomach now can we?" He looked over to the snake demon, "Go on. Show Shadow what you've prepared for him tonight."

The snake hissed and used his tail to lift up the covering of the dish, "Yes, my lord."

Once the top was lifted from the dish, Shadow couldn't help but to raise his hand towards his mouth and turn his head away in disgust. "Oh my God", he murmured. He couldn't believe what he had just saw and wanted to look again to see if it was all real.

"What's wrong, Shadow? I thought you loved these kind of meals?" Dark asked with an evil smirk.

The snake serpent slithered onto his master's shoulder and studied Shadow's behavior.

Shadow looked again and stared at a head of an innocent Mobian woman that they had killed not too long ago it seemed. He was horrified to see such a sight and wanted to turn away again, but something inside of him wouldn't allow him to do so. He gave Dark a cold glare, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

The demon pointed to himself, "Me? Nothing is wrong. I'm just giving you what you want."

"Well I don't want this! I...I don't eat people!"

Dark licked his lips, "Yes...you do. Come on Shadow, look at that delicious skull of hers. Don't you want to sink your fangs into it and rip her head into all kinds of pieces? Don't you want the blood that's dripping from her neck? Don't you want to eat her brain and rip out her tongue? You cannot deny what you want! Darkness will take over and once he does, you'll never turn away from another mortal like this again!"

"No!" Shadow then began to hold his head, trying to fight Darkness within him. He didn't want him to take over especially when it came to Mobian flesh being exposed.

"Release him, Shadow! Let Darkness take over! You cannot stop him!" Dark laughed evilly.

When Shadow could no longer take it, he took his hand away from his head and started to laugh madly. "Heh, oh Dark, you shouldn't have brought me such a lovely gift", he panted.

Dark and the serpent then watched as Shadow jumped onto the table and kneeled in front of the bloody head.

Shadow took the head off of the dish and without hesitation, he sunk his fangs into the skull. He ripped the flesh off of it and chewed the remains in his mouth.

The snake serpent watched as Shadow slowly bit off each part of the dead woman's head. "Master", he whispered. "I think we finally have a hold of him."

When Shadow finally finished eating the head, he spit out a piece of a bone and licked his lips in satisfaction. "Bones...the worst part of a mortal's body."

Dark smirked, "Did you enjoy your dinner, Shadow?"

The hedgehog looked down at his bloody hands and started to lick them. "Of course. Nothing tastes better than mortal flesh."

He smiled, "I'm glad." He then noticed Shadow placing his hand on his head. He then knew that Shadow was becoming himself again.

Shadow groaned in pain and held his sides as he came back to his senses. He looked back down at the bloody dish where the head of the Mobian woman was once was. He then remembered, he had ate it. He had ate it whole. He could taste the blood around his mouth and saw how bloody his suit was. "I...I..."

"Oh", Dark said with a smile. "My favorite part of the evening. The breakdown."

Shadow then placed his hand over his mouth, trying to keep himself from throwing up. He quickly got off of the table and ran into the bathroom.

The next thing Dark and the serpent heard was him coughing and him breaking everything in the bathroom with every amount of rage he had in his body.


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

**TRUST**

Meanwhile, the Chaotix were traveling in the middle of Green Forest when they noticed that night had fallen upon them and it was time to rest for the rest of the night.

Vector turned to the group when they came to a decent spot to rest. "Okay guys, we're taking a break. We're resting here for the rest of the night."

Tonya was the first to be heard, "About freakin' time! My legs are killing me!"

The crocodile sighed, "Just shut up and relax while we have the chance okay! I find it extremely weird that we haven't been confronted by any Almas yet since we got here."

"Well how are we supposed to sleep if we're worried about any Almas attacking us?" Ker asked.

"We'll take turns watching each other", Vector answered. He looked over to Appex and started to think that he should be the first to do it since no one trusted him completely. "Appex", he called. "How about you?"

Appex stood there looking dumbfounded about the situation, "What?"

"You heard me. You're up for the first watch. Got it?"

The porcupine sighed in annoyance and knew that this was only a test to prove if he was trustworthy. "Fine."

Later, Appex was watching everyone sleep while he surprisingly had no problem keeping his own self up. 'This is a waste of time', he thought. 'They'll be okay if I leave them be for a few minutes. Besides...' He looked over to the white haired demon sleeping with his back against a tree. 'If there ever is an Almas somewhere around here, Ker would be flipping out about it by now since he can since demons miles away.' He looked beside Ker and saw a blanket laying on the ground. He remembered that it was Tonya's. 'I wonder where that cat has gone to.'

Appex then started to wander into the woods alone because he was supposedly bored when he was too stubborn to admit to himself that he was looking for Tonya. Soon, he came to a beautiful lake with the moonlight reflecting off of the clear water. 'What a beautiful sight', he thought. He then looked over at the waterfall and saw the figure of what it looked like to be a woman. He had gotten curious about who it was, but he had a pretty good idea so he stayed hidden behind a tree. His eyes widened when he saw a woman appear from the waterfall.

She was the figure of a perfect female. Her body was drenched in water, luminous in the moonlight, and seemed so soft not even the most worthy man in Mobius could touch it.

Appex then felt a developing tent in his pants from the rare sight and it sucked when he thought who the woman was.

When the woman took her wet hair away from her face, Appex knew then that the woman was indeed Tonya. She gasped when she heard the sound of a stick being snapped in two near her. She quickly reached inside of her belt pocket for her fans. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"...Relax, cat girl", a familiar voice said.

Tonya's body then froze when she saw Appex slowly coming out of the woods and walking towards her. "A...Appex? What are you..." When she noticed him looking down at her and saw the slight blush on his face, she began to panic. "Appex! You pervert!" She screamed.

"Wha? No! No! I didn't mean..."

She ran over to him and began to throw her fists at him, trying to hit him, but her punches to him was not a threat since he had the strength to hold her wrists. "Pervert! Pervert! Pervert!"

He then threw her body on the ground along with his falling on top of her, "Calm down, you idiot!"

Tonya then stopped struggling when she noticed the awkward position that she and Appex were in. She turned cherry red when she felt the porcupine's erection on her abdomen. "Appex?" She called in a stunned voice. "...Are you...horny?"

He was so embarrassed and so confused he had no idea what to say to her. He wanted to say to her 'Well what man wouldn't after seeing you bathe like that?' He then felt the searing pain in his arm again after one of the Almas attacked him with the purple like acid they had. He winced and groaned because of the pain.

Tonya thought he was wincing because of the growing erection he was having. "Well I certainly got the wrong impression of you! You definitely were raised in the pit of filth you came out of!"

"No", he slowly got off her body and sat beside her while holding his arm. "It-it's my arm."

She got off of the ground and began to put her clothes back on. "Your arm?" She studied his arm and saw blood seeping between his fingers while he held it. Once she got her clothes back on, she sat beside him. "You're bleeding. Let me look at it."

"No!" He held his wounded arm tighter, "I'll be fine! I don't need anyone's help!"

"Stubborn aren't you?"

He turned away from her in annoyance.

"You know I didn't get the chance to say thank you...for saving me from the Almas."

The porcupine didn't know what to say at first because he was stunned that no one had thanked him like that before, but he wanted to make up an excuse for the real reason. "I didn't do it to save you. I did it so I could simply test my power on those demons."

She formed a small smile knowing that it was his own way for saying 'you're welcome.' She placed her hand on his and took it away from where his arm was and began to study his wound.

"Look you stupid girl, I said I was fine!"

"Yeah right. If you were fine, then you wouldn't be in pain and bleeding every ten minutes." She looked down at her dress and ripped some of the cloth off.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She began to wrap the cloth around his arm gently so she wouldn't hurt him too much. "Treating your wound", she answered.

He was about to say he didn't need the treatment but she had already spoken again.

"I know what you're about to say and I disagree. As of right now, we're all a team and we have to look out of for each other. Bottom line, we're helping you like it or not got it?" When she finished treating his wound, she looked up at the porcupine and formed a friendly smile.

Appex had no idea what to say, but he was being treated differently from the way he was treated before when he was with the Street Punks. He somehow liked being treated this way so much better even when he did make a promise to himself to serve Lance for the rest of his life. He faced her and stared in her blue eyes for the longest time.

When she noticed that he hadn't even blinked yet while looking at her, she assumed something was wrong. "Wha-what is it?"

"Nothing it's just...he's lucky."

She rose an eyebrow because she had no idea who he was talking about. "Who?"

"That chameleon. Everything he says about you is true. You are beautiful, strong, and...caring. I have to admit...I'm a little jealous over him."

A light blush had fell upon her face, "Appex..."

He slowly got off of the ground, "I'm going back to the others and getting some sleep."

"But...but..."

Before he walked away from her, he turned to her with the first friendly smile he has ever gave anyone. "Thank you...Tonya."

She was stunned at his sudden kindness and couldn't say anything to him before he went back to the others.

**A/N: Um, this isn't what you think this is. lol! R&R please!**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

**INTERRUPTION**

The next morning, everyone was getting ready to leave Green Forest after they had finished eating breakfast.

While Espio was finishing eating his sandwich, he looked over to Appex and noticed that he had a torn piece of purple cloth around his arm where he had gotten wounded. He recognized that cloth from somewhere before. His eyes then traveled over to Tonya and noticed that her dress had a tear in it. As he thought about it, everything then began to make sense. He looked over to Appex again and he was filled with uprising anger. After when he finished his sandwich, he walked up to him with his fist shaking. "So, what happened between you and Ton last night?" He asked in a growl.

The porcupine faced him with a look of confusion, "What? You mean the cat?"

"Don't play fucking stupid with me! Of course her!" He shouted angrily. "What happened between you two?"

Appex figured that he had saw the way Tonya treated his arm and had gotten jealous over it. "Nothing happened."

The chameleon pointed to the cloth wrapped his arm, "Yeah? Well that explains too much! You're lying to me aren't you?" He grabbed Appex by his yellow vest, "Tell me the truth!"

Appex sent a look full of anger because of the way Espio had touched him. He tightly wrapped his hand around Espio's wrist, "Don't...ever...fucking touch me", he growled.

"Oh really? Well I'm fucking touching you. What are you gonna do about it, needles?"

Anger started to build up inside of him as he could not take Espio's attitude any longer.

Espio watched as Appex's quills stood from his body and could tell he was ready to fight him.

"Don't piss me off right now, chameleon."

The chameleon smirked, "I think it's a little late for that don't you think?"

Before Appex could stab him with his quills, Tonya pulled the two apart.

She pushed Espio onto the ground with annoyance, "What's going on?"

Espio looked up at her and quickly got back to his feet. "I could say the same thing! Ton, you know I care about you and I want to protect you, but I just want to know...Did you and this filthy punk fuck last night?"

A deep red blush appeared on the cat's face as she clenched her fist and punched Espio in the face. "It's called bandaging his injury you freakin' pervert!"

The chameleon held the red hurtful bruise on his face from Tonya's powerful punch, "So...nothing?"

"Nothing!" Tonya shouted with frustration.

Afterwards, there was nothing but an awkward silence among them all.

Espio continued to rub his bruised face in embarrassment, "...Oh."

Charmy bursted out laughing at Espio's foolishness. "Wow Espio, don't you feel stupid!"

The chameleon growled at the kid bee. "Oh shut up, Charmy!"

Tonya walked over to Appex to see if he was all right from the fight that almost happened between him and Espio. "Are you okay, Appex?" She asked in a whisper. She then watched as Appex's quills went back to the way they were before.

As usual he gave her a cold look and turned away, "I'm fine", he murmured.

She then realized that Appex wanted to be left alone so she walked back over to Espio and took him by his wrist. "Idiot!"

"Wha? Okay I misunderstood the situation a bit and I'm sorry." When he didn't hear her forgiving him he called her name hesitantly, "...Tonya?"

When she finally turned to him, she formed a small smile. "Espio, I'm a little upset that you picked a fight with Appex for no reason but...I'm glad you care a lot for me. Thank you."

The chameleon smiled back at her, "Well, I do have to watch over my lover at all times you know."

"Lover?" She giggled. "In your dreams." She then took her hand away from his wrist and walked back over to the group.

Espio watched her walk away from him in confusion, "In my...dreams?" He repeated blankly.

Vector confronted the group, "Okay guys, I hope you got plenty of rest because now we're heading towards the Syherin Desert."

Tonya's ears flopped down because she wasn't really looking forward to walking around in a desert, especially during the hot day.

"Then we go to the Arctic!" Charmy shouted in excitement.

Rouge clenched her fists in impatience, "Then Dark's ice base", she murmured. She turned away from the group as they begun to prepare themselves. 'Please don't let us be too late...Shadow.'

Meanwhile in Dark's ice base, Shadow was in his room laying on his bed still feeling sick from last night. He was just laying there with his eyes half way open. He could only think about being with all of his friends again and the terrible monster inside of him that could kill them all. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Dark slowly come into his room. His back was turned to him but he knew it was him who came into his room because he could feel his powerful demonic presence.

"Good morning, Shadow", the demon lord greeted.

The hedgehog said nothing. All he did was sigh sadly.

Dark noticed his behavior and thought it was connected with last night. "What troubles you, Shadow?"

The hedgehog clenched his fists tightly after hearing him ask what was wrong when Dark knew what exactly what was wrong. "Nothing...just feeling a little...sick."

The demon wanted to laugh so much after hearing his response. "Sick? Is your stomach still upset from last night?"

"I think it's more than my stomach, Dark."

Dark thought he was referring to something else but he didn't think very hard about it. "Well if you're sick, you know you have to get over it sooner or later. We'll start training soon you know."

Shadow then sat up from his bed and faced Dark with a look full of anger. "Look, I don't want to put up with your bullshit this morning. I'm tired because all night I've been shoving my own finger down my throat trying to throw up that disgusting head you persuaded me to eat. I'm not in the fucking mood!"

The demon rose an eyebrow, "You did all that? Are you stupid, boy? No wonder you're so sick. Maybe I should bring you some breakfast to get some of your strength back."

"No!" Shadow had shouted in frustration. "No more food! No more body parts! I want to starve!"

"Stop talking in nonsense! If you keep this up, you'll end up killing yourself!"

He then didn't have the energy anymore to sit on the bed so he continued to rest his body on the bed. With his body shaking a bit, he curled up in a ball and held his aching sides. "Right now, I see no problem with killing myself."

Dark frowned at his attitude. He didn't want to lose Shadow because he really wanted him to serve him. "No", he said. "I won't lose you to your foolishness. You came to me for help and that's what I'm planning to do." He walked back to the door and opened it about to leave his room. Before he left, he turned to Shadow once again. "You're eating and you won't throw it back up this time got it?"

Shadow said nothing and waited for him to leave his room so he could get a decent rest.


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

**JOURNEY THROUGH THE SYHERIN DESERT**

Later, the Chaotix were traveling in the middle of the Syherin Desert. The whole team was kind of worn out because of the extreme heat.

Charmy was on top of Vector's head looking tired. "Boss, I'm so hot", he moaned.

The crocodile wanted to grab the bee by his throat and strangle him like no tomorrow, but he didn't have the energy it seemed. "Oh really? Well this whole walking thing to the ice base sure wasn't my fault, Charms!"

The bee looked down at the frustrated crocodile, "Aw come on, boss. It wasn't my fault that I couldn't get to the X-jet at the time."

"Yeah? Maybe it was because you kept playing those damn video games all day and every day!"

Charmy formed a small smile, "Yeah and?"

Vector sighed and decided to give up on the conversation.

Tonya saw the way Ker was walking and noticed the he was taking the heat pretty well. "Ker, don't you feel hot at all? Especially wearing that huge cloak?"

The demon turned to her with a smile, "Not really. I've been in Hell so many times, I'm sorta used to the heat. Besides, Hell is way hotter than this."

The cat's mouth hung open in amazement, "Wow Ker, you just continue to amaze me." The cat's ears flopped down because of her exhaustion. "At least you have no problem in the heat. I feel like I could pass out any minute."

"And what the hell makes you so special, cat girl!" Rouge shouted in annoyance.

Tonya formed a small smile because she forgot that the others had felt the same way and she was no different. She then looked over to Espio and Appex looking over to each other and then quickly looking away. She sighed softly and had wished the two could get along better. 'Why do men act like that?' She thought to herself.

Rouge sighed, "How could this get any worse?"

Suddenly the group was stopped when they saw weird black holes appearing in the sand. Then they were all sent into panic when deformed brown creatures jumped out of them.

Vector looked over to Rouge, acting like the creatures coming out of the sand was her fault. "Guess what, Rouge? It got worse!"

"Almas!" Ker shouted as he got ready for battle. 'This is weird. Those creatures came out of nowhere and I couldn't sense anything at all. What is going on?'

As the Almas prepared to attack them, Charmy looked over to Appex and threw one of his daggers at him. "Appex, use this to chop off their heads!"

The porcupine caught the blade and made a small nod, "Got it." When he saw an Almas come at him, his fur quickly stood from his body and struck towards the creature, knocking it down into the sand. He then positioned the dagger at its neck and without hesitation cut its head clear off its body. He saw the demon's blood all over his hands, but he didn't care as he was prepared to kill the next Almas that confronted him, until a strange white light came out of nowhere and blasted the Almas into pieces. He looked and turned to Ker smiling at him.

"I have your back, Appex."

The porcupine was speechless because of the demon's sudden help. At first, he didn't really trust Ker because he didn't believe that he was a changed demon, but now he was convinced otherwise. He did nothing but form a small smile towards him.

Espio watched in amazement as Tonya sliced her way through the Almas with ease with her fan blades. All he could see was the Almas' blood scattering everywhere and all he could hear was her blades coming in contact with the creatures' necks. It made him pretty nervous that the girl he was in love with was as just as strong as him and was capable of taking care of herself.

With her fans dripping with blood, she faced the staring chameleon with a smirk. "What's wrong, Espio? Do I scare you?"

The chameleon blushed at the comment in embarrassment, "What? Of course not!"

The cat giggled a bit, "Okay Es, whatever you say."

Rouge used her iron boots to kick an Almas on top of its head and slammed its whole body down into the ground. She looked over to Charmy, "Charmy, your dagger!"

Charmy then tossed his dagger towards Rouge, watched as she caught it, and watched her cut off the demon's head, killing the last of the Almas.

The bat walked back over to Charmy and gave him back the bloody dagger. "Well that seems to be the last of them."

"For now", Vector had added.

Because of the heat and her exhaustion from fighting the Almas, Tonya fell to her knees. "God I am so tired."

Before Espio or Appex could offer to help her off the ground, Ker had approached her and held her tired body in his arms.

The demon gave the cat a worried look, "Will you be okay, Tonya?"

"Of course I'll be okay, Ker. You don't have to do to this", she said while panting a bit.

"But I want to make sure you're all right so I'll carry you for the rest of the way."

"Oh Ker, you're so sweet."

With his mouth hung open in confusion, Espio watched Ker walk over to the rest of the group with Tonya in his arms. "What! Oh if this isn't the biggest load of bull I've experienced in my whole fucking..."

With a smirk full of amusement on his face, Appex walked past Espio and towards the group.

"Hey! What are you smiling about, pretty boy! I saw you! You were going for her too!"

Meanwhile in Dark's ice base, Dark confronted Shadow in his room and saw the hedgehog staring at the snow heavily falling from the dark gray sky. "Shadow, it's time."

The hedgehog turned his head and sighed, knowing that Dark meant it was time for them to finally begin their training. "Fine." He slowly looked away from the window and followed Dark out of the room.

Later, the sky was a dull dark gray color and the powerful wind was blowing the snowflakes with incredible force as the Chaotix team stared at the huge building in front of them.

"Here we are", Espio said.

Rouge gritted her teeth, "Yeah...Dark's ice base."

**A/N: Well, they made it. Inside Dark's ice base is the guy they're looking for. Let's see what happens next! R&R please!**


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

**DELAY**

Tonya held her arms because of the freezing cold weather. "Geez! One minute it's freakin' hot and the next it's freakin' cold! I wish mother nature would make up her damn mind!"

"Well who says we have to sit here and play around in the snow?" Rouge's eyes were fixed on the huge base in front of them. "Shadow's in there and I won't lose him because of Darkness." She then began to run forth to the entrance of the base.

Vector began to run after her, hoping to stop her from rushing into the base. "Rouge, wait! I don't think it'll be that easy to get in there!" Before he could stop her, he saw her kick down the steel door to the base. He and the rest of the Chaotix stood there not knowing what to say. 'Man, is she serious or what?'

"...Damn, bat girl", Espio said mindlessly.

The bat turned to the group, "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me find Shadow?" She then ran into the base.

With a nervous impression on their faces, the group started to follow Rouge into the base.

When the group ran into a huge dinning room, they slowed down for a bit to see if Shadow was in there.

Rouge looked around, hoping to find her lover. "Where is he?" She was then startled when a hand fell on her shoulder. She turned and saw Vector giving her a concerned look.

"Rouge, you must remain calm. You don't have to do everything alone."

"But Vector..."

He didn't give her a chance to speak, "We all want to find Shadow and bring him back to us. He's apart of our family. We must do this together. No one's ever alone."

Rouge then forgot all about how the rest of the team felt and thought that maybe she was too obsessed with finding Shadow and she couldn't do it all by herself.

Then they were all interrupted when they heard a sly and deep voice near them.

"Well, well if it isn't the Chaotix?"

The group looked and saw a black snake slithering on the floor.

Espio rose an eyebrow, "Is that a snake?"

"And did it just...talk?" Charmy added.

The snake hissed and looked up at the group with his glowing red eyes. "I've been expecting you."

Ker looked over to Rouge with a worried look. "Rouge", he said softly. "That snake's a demon and judging by his demonic presence, a very powerful one too."

Rouge wasn't worried about what the snake could do to them and wanted to get straight to the questions. "Look, we know you're one of Dark's servants and we know you've seen Shadow. So where is he?"

The serpent hissed, "If you want to know so badly, you'll have to defeat me."

Espio shrugged, "Sounds good to me. So...who's got the biggest foot?"

The snake couldn't help but to laugh, "You detectives think defeating me will be easy? Well..."

Everyone then watched as the serpent began to change his form by increasing his size until he became as big as the dining room.

"...Think again", the giant serpent hissed.

Espio's mouth hung open as he pointed at the huge snake. "Hey, this is ringing a bell to something."

Appex then pushed the chameleon away from the serpent's tail as he swung it around.

Espio looked up at the porcupine in confusion. He had thought Appex had hated him. "Appex, you saved me."

The porcupine looked away from him, "Well don't expect this thing to happen very often."

Espio formed a smile, "Right." He then took out his giant shuriken, "Well, let's cut off this bastard's head just like all of the rest of the demons we've faced."

The snake raised his tail and swung it at the group, but fortunate for them they all dodged it. The snake then faced Vector and opened his mouth while parting his fangs. He then came at Vector, trying to sink his fangs into him.

Vector held the snake back but it seemed that he couldn't keep it up any longer especially when he saw the venom seeping out of his fangs.

"Hang on, Vec!" Espio came towards the snake with his giant shuriken and threw it at the snake's head, cutting it straight off.

Blood scattered all over the room and just knew that the battle was over.

"We won!" Charmy shouted.

Ker frowned, "No, that was too easy."

Charmy pointed at the headless snake and saw him growing another head. "Uh, guys! It's growing another head!"

"We can't kill that thing?" Tonya asked with panic. "What do we do?"

"If you can't kill a demon one way, there's always another way." Ker approached the snake and took off his blindfold exposing his glowing white eyes. Then a white blast had came from his eyes and struck towards the snake, blowing the large serpent into pieces.

Charmy watched the snake's remains fell to the floor. "Anyone got an umbrella?"

Then everyone saw the pieces of the serpent form back into the snake's original form. They surrounded the weak snake with anger while blood was dripping from their bodies.

The snake looked up at them in annoyance, "Darn! I lost! Lord Dark will skin me for sure!"

Rouge picked the black snake off of the floor and glared, "You think? All right you stupid, serpent! No more games! Tell us where Shadow is and I mean now!"

The snake winced because of his injuries, but he began to speak, "Fine", he hissed. "He's in the underground training area with Lord Dark."

Rouge dropped the serpent on the floor and faced the group, "Hear that guys?"

They nodded and was ready to finally find Shadow.

"Let's go!" Vector then led the rest of the group towards the underground area.

**A/N: Hmm, I felt like I rushed in this chap...oh well. The next chap won't be very rushed at all. R&R please! **


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

**REDEMPTION**

Meanwhile in the underground training area, Shadow confronted Dark and was looking forward to finally start his training with him.

"This is it, Shadow", the demon lord said. "This training will be difficult and you'll be pushed to your limits. As of now, this training is nothing but a path between life and death. You must survive if you ever want to see your friends again and have complete control over Darkness. So...are you willing to take this risk?"

Shadow had thought this would be a hard decision to make. He loved the way his life was. He loved his family and friends. He never wanted to let go of them, but he acted as though he had no other choice. He clenched his fists tightly as he hesitantly gave him his answer. "I...I..."

"Shadow!" A group of familiar voices shouted.

The hedgehog was then interrupted when he heard the voices and quickly spun around only to find the Chaotix team running into the room with worried looks on their faces.

The group stared at the hedgehog in sadness and had hoped that he was the same Shadow they all knew before.

He was speechless when he saw all of his friends confront him. He was angered at one point because he didn't want them to come find him, but then again he felt so happy. He was happy that his friends came from Tech City to Dark's ice base to bring him back home. "...Guys?" He called in a low voice. "Is that...you?"

"Of course it's us you idiot", Appex said.

Tonya studied the way Shadow had looked and he didn't look like he was in very good shape. "We want you to come back to us", Tonya said.

Rouge began to walk forth to him, "We...want you to come home, baby. To your family."

"Rouge", he spoke softly. He held out his arms, "Come here."

With tears slowly streaming down her face, she ran into his arms and hugged him tightly, not ever wanting to let go again. "Shadow", she sobbed. "Don't leave us. We love you."

He placed a finger under her chin and made her face him. "Rouge, I...I don't have a choice here. If I don't get the training I need, Darkness will get out of control and..."

"I don't care! None of us do!"

He was shocked that not one of them had wanted him to stay with Dark so he could finally control Darkness. "What? Rouge?"

"We don't know how, but we'll think of a way to save you!" She leaned her head on his chest and continued to sob softly, "Just please don't go with him."

He placed his hand on her head and stroked his fingers through her white hair in sadness. He didn't know what to do. He had no idea if he should listen to his friends or listen to Dark who knew everything about demons. He couldn't go against himself. He cared about his friends more than anything. He would do anything for them.

"Well, Shadow?" Dark called impatiently. "I'm waiting for an answer."

The hedgehog looked at his beloved Rouge then back at Dark. "No..." he said coldly. "I won't do it."

"What?" Dark said in confusion.

"I'm going back to Tech City. My home."

Dark didn't quite understand the situation, but he knew himself that he couldn't stop him from doing what he wanted. After all, Shadow had came to him willingly and Dark would've gladly helped him. "Fine. Do what you please, but believe me. Without my help, it's hard to say what kind of future you'll bring to Mobius."

Shadow turned away from the demon, not wanting to think about his warnings and could feel his presence disappearing from the room. Suddenly, he and Rouge were tackled to the floor by the rest of the group in happiness.

"Captain Shadow!" Charmy shouted in joy.

"We missed you man!" Espio added.

"Don't ever leave us again!" Tonya cried.

"Promise us!" Ker sobbed.

Even in the awkward position he was in, he never felt so missed and loved before. 'Am I really that important to them?' He thought. 'They really missed me.' He formed a wide smile, "I promise", he said. "I'll stick with you guys until the bitter end."

"Yay!" Charmy shouted. "We're a family again!"

Shadow began to wince because of the weight everyone was putting on his body. "I missed you too guys, but right now...you're crushing my body."

Everyone then realized they were hurting Shadow and helped him off of the floor.

Appex then made a fake cough to get their attention, "Lance was right. You morons are a bunch of losers."

Shadow looked over to the porcupine in surprise. He started to wonder how he became part of the group to come and see him. He thought maybe be did care. The hedgehog formed a smile and tackled the porcupine from behind.

Appex felt extremely violated from the strange position he was put in. "Uh, what are you doing you brainless idiot?"

"It's called a glomp, genius. Look it up sometime."

Appex turned to the hedgehog in annoyance, "You're pissing me off, hedgehog. Now get off of me!"

Shadow released his body from his, "Come on, Appex. Admit it. You didn't just come for the trip. You missed me too didn't you?"

"Well you are the best rival I know...I guess everything would be empty without you so someone had to drag your stupid ass back."

"I missed you too, Appex."

The porcupine turned to him in confusion, "Huh?"

"I know what you're trying to say so don't act like I don't know your own language."

The porcupine's confused look then formed into a smirk. "You're all right, hedgehog."

Vector then confronted Appex with a Chaotix badge. "Appex, I know this seems kinda awkward but...you helped us a lot on our journey and it would be an honor if...you joined us."

Appex rose an eyebrow at the badge he was staring at in his hand. "You...gotta be kidding me."

"You don't have to officially join us", Vector explained. "Just show up when you want to if you'd like. No one needs to know."

Appex sighed and slowly took the badge from Vector's hand. "Fine but I'm not coming to none of your stupid meetings."

As Charmy watched him take the badge, he flew up into the air with joy. "Hooray! Appex is the ninth member! Appex is the ninth member!"

Appex began to get irritated by the bee's chanting. "You heard the old man! I didn't officially join, I just..."

"Took the badge and now you're part of the family!" Charmy finished.

Appex's body then froze when Charmy had mentioned being part of a family. He slowly looked down at the badge he was holding in his hand and held it tighter. 'Family? He's right. I have a new family now. What is this emotion I'm experiencing? I feel like...like I want to cry, but I'm...happy.' He looked back over to the singing bee and frowned, "Stop the damn singing already! I get it!"

"But I can't help it!" He shouted. "I'm just so happy! So happy I can barely contain myself!"

"Yeah?" Tonya said. "I would be much happier if we got back home already! It's freezing down here!"

Shadow smiled, "You got it, Ton. Chaos Control!"

**A/N: Woot! Almost done! One more chapter to go and it's over! **


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER 23**

**SEPARATION**

A few days later, everything felt like just another normal day at the Chaotix. Everything was the same again.

Shadow was sitting on Tonya's desk in the main lobby with the rest of the gang discussing to him what they had read in his future diary. "So, let me get this straight", he said while swaying his legs back and forth. "In that diary you read, I was going to become king of Mobius?"

Everyone slowly nodded.

"And...I was a horrible ass ruler?"

Everyone again nodded.

"And I killed everyone I knew and love just for the power?"

Everyone nodded again.

"And even in the end, no one could stop me?"

Everyone stopped to think if there was anyone else that could stop him, but they then remembered that the diary didn't continue from there since it had went missing in the future time. So their answer was again a simple nod.

Shadow had nothing but a blank expression on his face and couldn't believe that he would turn into such a ruthless killer. He was so glad that he didn't stay with Dark. If he had trained with Dark, then that horrible future that the diary said would've came true. "Well, I'm hoping that future never comes. I'm so glad you guys convinced me not to stay with Dark."

Espio formed a smile, "Well someone had to talk some sense into your ass."

Shadow looked over to the diary that Chloe was holding. "So what are you going to do with the diary, Chloe?"

The butterfly held it close to her, "I'll keep it safe with me and make sure that no one ever finds this. We'll just pretend that we never even seen this book."

That diary did save Shadow from becoming the terrible ruler he was going to be so there really was no use for it anymore, so everyone agreed.

Midnight looked over to Shadow, "So how have you been feeling lately, Shadow?"

The hedgehog shrugged, "The same really. The headaches...the depression...the random anger thing...you know. Same thing." He had to admit to himself that he was quite disappointed. He wanted to get Darkness under control so much, just so his suffering could end.

Everyone saw the sad look on Shadow's face and began to worry about him again.

Kassidy wanted to lightened the situation up again. The fox looked over to Charmy, "Hey Charms, I just realized you never gave Shadow his birthday present."

Everyone's eyes then fell upon Charmy in annoyance. Especially Shadow.

The hedgehog jumped off of the desk and shook his fist around in anger at the bee. "Oh yeah! You still owe me my present you heartless jerk!"

Charmy waved his hands around nervously as he gave him a weak smile. "No, no. I never forgot about you, Captain Shadow. I actually finished making your present a few days ago."

Shadow lowered his fist, "What? You did? Well where the hell is it?" He then watched him take out a huge red glove like device.

"Happy birthday!"

Shadow stared at the device blankly, trying to figure out what it was. "Um, Charms. What is it?"

"It's a glove, silly!"

"I know it's a glove but it's only one glove! Besides what the hell is that thing supposed to do!"

The bee smirked, "Captain Shadow, say hello to my new invention. The Demon Release Glove."

Shadow was speechless and tried to take what the bee just said in. "The...Demon...Release Glove?"

"Yeah! This is the answer to all your problems! You see...this glove will be able to separate Darkness from inside of you...forever."

"Separate Darkness...forever?" He repeated.

"Yeah! After I sink this baby into you, Darkness will no longer be inside of you."

"Forever?" He kept repeating to himself softly.

Tonya got concerned and had hoped that Shadow had wanted to do it. "Shadow, I know that Darkness has been a pain in your side since the beginning and I respect your wishes but...this is an offer you can't refuse!"

"She's right, Shad", Espio agreed. "With that device, Darkness will finally stop causing you so much pain."

"But...", Shadow murmured. "...Darkness has been with me since my birth. It's been my curse...to live with him until the day I die. He's apart of me."

"Shadow..." Rouge said softly. "This is your decision. Do what you think is right."

He stared at the glove and thought that deep down he really wanted to get rid of Darkness and he would do anything to get rid of him.

Chloe stared at the glove with worry. 'Something about this I don't like, but...what?'

Shadow turned to Charmy with his final decision. "Charmy, let's do it."

The bee saluted, "Okay!"

Shadow stood in the middle of the room and watched as Charmy slipped on the glove. He had to admit, he was a little nervous about the situation, "So...what? I just stand here or..."

When Charmy finished putting on the glove, he looked up at Shadow. "Well...this is my first time testing it so...just let me do all the work."

The hedgehog's eyes widened and didn't know if he wanted to go through with it or not anymore. "Your first time testing it! Wha-what a minute, Charms!"

"Here we go!" The bee flew over to Shadow and slammed his hand into his face, knocking him down onto the floor.

Shadow slowly sat up from the floor and noticed that his nose was bleeding. He held his nose in pain, "Charmy, you idiot! It didn't work! All you did was give me a bloody nose!"

The bee's eyes widened as he looked behind Shadow and pointed, "Captain Shadow!"

Shadow slowly turned and saw a black creature with his back against the wall and his piercing red eyes focusing on his. His eyes widened at the creature in shock. "It...it's him", he spoke in a low voice. "It's really Darkness..."

Just looking at Darkness, made Ker feel uneasy. 'That demon...has so much power.'

The demon got off of the floor and never took his menacing eyes from him. "Well, well. We finally meet face to face...Shadow...my host."

Everyone then pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the demon.

The demon held his hands up with a smirk, "What's with all the violence? Can't we all make peace?"

Rouge shot the demon in his chest with her gun, but it did nothing it seemed. All the demon did was bleed and nothing more. 'He...he didn't feel a thing!'

Shadow got off of the floor and continued to wipe the blood away from his nose. "You have a lot of nerve to say that. The things you made me do...you're disgusting!"

"Oh come now, Shadow. We used to have fun together all the time. Why do you want to do this to me? We need each other", he growled.

"I don't want anything to do with you. I never did want anything to do with you. Now..." He clenched both of his fists, "...I can put this all to an end." He ran up to Darkness and tried to hit him with his fist, but Darkness had dodged him by trying to slam him into the wall, but it didn't work. Shadow quickly spun around with his hands glowing yellow, "Chaos Spear!"

As Darkness tried to dodge the spears, one of the spears had struck him in his shoulder making him hold it and groan in pain a bit.

Just when Darkness was hit with the spear, Shadow collapsed to his knees and started to hold his shoulder like he was in pain as well. 'Where did this sudden pain come from?' Before he had time to get back on his feet, Darkness had sliced Shadow in his chest with his claws, making his blood scatter all over the floor.

Just when Darkness attacked him, he could also feel the pain of being clawed in the chest. "Why...am I...in pain?" He panted.

Vector observed the fight closely and noticed that every time they attacked each other, the other felt the same pain as well. "Wha-what's happening to them?" Vector turned to Charmy. "Charmy, what did that device of yours do?"

The bee tried to study the glove to find out the answers but even he couldn't figure out the reason why. "I don't know."

Chloe looked at Shadow and Darkness fight and decided to stop them. "Stop it! I know what's going on!"

Shadow stood where he was and was curious to find out what was going on. "You do?"

Darkness then caught Shadow off guard and punched him back to the floor, but as soon as he did, he felt like he had gotten punched too. "Damn it", he groaned.

"I said stop!" Chloe shouted. "Don't you see what's happening? Whenever you two attack one another, you both feel the same impact."

"So that means..." Darkness began. "If I kill Shadow, then I die too?"

Shadow couldn't believe it. He finally thought his curse from Darkness was gone, but in reality he was still cursed. He even knew that no one could defeat Darkness but himself. It was his destiny. "Damn it", he muttered.

Darkness got off of the floor and held his throbbing body from the fight he just had with Shadow. "This game of tag is boring if no one can ever win at it. He spread his wings and smirked towards Shadow. "Well, I guess there's nothing left for me to do here. We'll meet again, Shadow...I can feel it and I know you can too."

Everyone watched as the demon laughed as he faded away into a black aura.

Afterwards Shadow collapsed to the floor because of his exhaustion.

Rouge ran over to him and held his body in her arms, "Shadow, are you okay?"

"Rouge", he said in a low voice. "I knew it...Darkness is still with me and now it's even worse than before."

She held him closer to her, "Don't worry, Shad. We'll defeat him...someday."

**A/N: Whoo! Finally finished! Well since Darkness was separated from Shadow, I guess that means Shadow won't be king of Mobius afterall...which means The Underground Rebellion was never formed. Sorry MagnumxShana supporters. T.T But on the bright side, Bitter Reunions is coming at you full speed. Thank you everyone for reading! **


End file.
